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A Bright, Sparkling, Up=to=date Book 

WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD 


to the 

Young Commercial Salesman 



BY 

T. H. PACE 

Uty? I*00TX publishing (Company 

RICHMOND, VA. 














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Wm. £. ftigai. 

ATTORNEY AT LAW, 

911 EAST MAIN STREET, 

RICHHOHD, YA. 



The American 

COnnERCIAL TRAVELER 

-OR- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL SALESMAN. A 
BOOK OF FACTS AND FIGURES, INSPIRATION AND 
INSTRUCTION FOR COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS IN 
GENERAL AND THE YOUNG TRAVELING SALESMAN 
IN PARTICULAR. 


BY 

T. H. PACE 

For Thirty Years a Successful Commercial Salesman. 


Published by 

The ESSEX PUBLISHING 60., 
Richmond, Va. 



Copyright 1905 By T. H. PACE, Richmond, Va. 


By transfer 




Table of Contents 


PAGES. 

Preface. 7 

Introductory, ** g 

The Mission of the Positive Man, 19 

Striving for Success, 20 

Getting Our Dominion, 22 

Never Wait for the Crowd, 23 

High Stools and Low Salaries, 24 

Keeping Up with the Times, 27 

Why Should a Commercial Traveler Be in Love, 30 

Sensitiveness and Success, 31 

To My En°my, 32 

Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism, 33 

Talk by Howard Peak, 42 

A Daily Thought, 45 

Waiting to Be Aroused. 46 

Don’t Be Afraid to Work, 48 

Talk With Young Men, 49 

How to Be a First-Class Salesman, 6 | 

How to Sell Specialties, 53 

A Recipe for Success, 59 

The Crown of Life Is Character, 60 

Personality as Capital, 6 I 

False Economy Destroys Vitality, 63 

T. P. A. News-Letter, 64 

Be Abreast of the Times, 65 

Don’t Be Afraid, 66 

These Things Influence an Employer, 67 

The Hardships of the Traveling Salesman, 69 

Cheerfulness—“Right Within Ourselves” Its Birthplace, 71 
Commercial Travelers and the Law, 72 

Rights ot Traveling Salesmen under the Interstate Com¬ 
merce Law, 79 

Going Into Business for Yourself, 85 

What Is a Traveling Man? 88 

The Commercial Traveler, 91 

The Art of Winning People’s Confidence, 93 

The Incompetent Salesman, Who Never Has an 

Opportunity, 96 



6 


Table of Contents 


The Timid Man, 99 

What Keeps Young Men Down, IOO 

Who Are First-Class Salesmen, 102 

Tribute to the Traveling Man, 103 

The Time and the Young Man, 107 

Thought-Architecture, 110 

The Best Advertisement, M3 

How to Get and Keep a Position, 114 

The American Drummer Is Something of a Wonder, 121 

The Traveling Man, 124 

The Drummer with His Grip, 127 

Turned Down Orders, 128 

The Path the Calf Made, 129 

“Coney Island Breezes,” 131 

The Wail of the Commercial Traveler’s Daughter, 132 

Pointers for Salesmen, 133 

“If,” 135 

As We Go Along, 136 

Alphabet of Success, 137 






Vt 

PREFACE. 

^ ^ ^ 


® IIE author of this book has no apologies to 
make for its appearance, and does not pro¬ 
pose to tire the reader with a long preface. 
Suffice it to say that the hook is intended to serve 
as a guide for young men who desire to become suc¬ 
cessful commercial travelers—to teach them how to 
acquire a practical knowledge of the commercial 
world; to hold up to them ideals of noble character; 
to illustrate the qualities essential to a successful 
salesman; to encourage and to stimulate endeavor; 
to point out the secrets of success ; to tell men how 
to do what others have done; to teach them how to 
live in accordance with a noble creed; to assist am¬ 
bitious young men who desire to become broader and 
larger men mentally; to help those who are ambi¬ 
tious to earn larger salaries. In short, our efforts 
are directed toward arousing the sleeping aspira¬ 
tions of the young men who are to take the place of 
the old commercial travelers, who must, sooner or 
later, step down and out. 

Is there a demand for such a book? Ask the 
young man who is just starting on his first trip as 
a representative of some large wholesale house. If 
he is wise, he would rather have this book than a 
fifty-dollar suit or a hundred-dollar watch. It will 
be worth more to him than a whole month’s salary. 
The advice, lessons and proverbs embodied are not 



8 


Preface. 


all original. They have been rehashed by many 
others from Solomon down. It has been said that 
“an apt quotation is as good as an original saying.” 
and with this conception, we have embodied in this 
outcome of the utilized odd moments of the past ten 
years, some of the best things ever said about the 
traveling salesman. The entire book is fresh and en¬ 
tertaining, full of valuable suggestions for the modern 
commercial traveler. No attempt has been made to¬ 
wards a literary production. This is an age of flash 
and dash, speed and brevity; and we cannot spare 
the time necessary to revise and perfect the diction, 
that the words may fall “like honied dew” on the 
attentive mind. Common sense, plain language and 
discreet brevity will always take with the practical 
man. 

A glance at the index will give an idea of the value 
of the book. To the up-to-date salesman, the chap¬ 
ter on selling goods by hypnotism is alone worth 
many times the cost of the book. The desire of the 
author and contributors is to broaden, strengthen and 
benefit the lives of young commercial travelers, and 
if this object is accomplished, the author will be re¬ 
paid for his labor. Acknowledgments are due to the 
publishers of “Success,” the best of all monthly 
magazines, which has been largely quoted. 


^ ^ 

INTRODUCTORY. 

^ ^ ^ 


J N searching libraries and catalogues for books 
giving information about the various trades and 
professions, we find an endless variety. Each 
subject seems to have been exhausted except the one 
now in band; yet it is a fact that there is an im¬ 
mense demand for some sort of printed information, 
some set of rules, or a book which the young man, 
starting out on the road as a representative of a 
wholesale house, can carry in his gripsack for a few 
weeks or months, somewhat in the nature of a guide. 

The writer has purchased every hook and pam¬ 
phlet on the subject that he ever heard of, and his 
disappointment, on reading them, has caused pro¬ 
found astonishment; but when he began this book, 
over ten years ago, he soon realized the great diffi¬ 
culties that, no doubt, deterred other writers from 
attempting the task he has now undertaken. 

Such works as were found in print on the subject 
had been evidently written by newspaper reporters 
or men of leisure, whose knowledge of the commer¬ 
cial world, of commercial travelers and the art of 
salesmanship, was gathered at hotels and in club 
rooms, from association with hotel clerks and travel¬ 
ing salesmen, who surely had no practical experience. 

In some of the hooks, consisting largely of drum- 
mers* yams, the writers have attempted to be funny 



10 


Introductory- 


and interesting, and in one or two instances some 
stray bits of valuable information have been incor¬ 
porated with a lot of rubbish. Very few readers, 
however, have the necessary patience to thresh so 
much straw for the few grains of wheat to be found. 
In gathering material for this book, we have accumu¬ 
lated more than a wagon-load in the way of clip¬ 
pings, quotations and facts, and the real work has 
consisted in assorting and selecting the best. The 
reader must be the judge of our success. We have 
endeavored to make a book that no commercial 
traveler can read without feeling that he has gotten 
ten times the worth of his money. Our kevnote is 
brevity. He must read between the lines. In short, 
we want to make him ihirik. The three leading in¬ 
terests of all civilized countries are producing, man¬ 
ufacturing and selling. Selling is what we want 
him to think about. 

Young business men of the world were never sur¬ 
rounded by such conditions as exist to-day. There 
never was a time when young men needed character, 
integrity and honesty as a part of their stock in 
trade more than at the present time. 

Let. us think of the changes that have come. Time 
and space have practically been annihilated. Ocean 
cables, telegraph systems and wireless telegraphy 
belt the circumference of the earth. Foreign ports 
are no longer foreign in the old meaning of the term. 
European countries are our next-door neighbors. 
What happens in the most remote parts of the world 
to-day is read about to-morrow. We watch the threat¬ 
ening dissolution of old governments and the estab¬ 
lishment of new ones. We see old business houses 
totter and fall. We find that old methods and old 
ideas will not answer for present environments. The 
ever-changing conditions have to be met Old and 


Introductory. 11 

successful business men, totally at sea, are out-of- 
date, back numbers; yet they are full of -wisdom. 
They are good encyclopedias, and their counsel is 
often invaluable. Better be a little slow than to 
ignore their advice, but the following must be done 
with quickened sight, not in blindfold, Chinese 
fashion. 

The young man of the present time has a field 
for individual effort that never before existed in this 
country, and his success will depend upon his ability 
to grasp the situation comprehensively. He must 
depend upon himself. Hot a slave to work, he must 
take occasional recreation and enjoy life, always re¬ 
membering, however, that sobriety and temperance 
are essential to the full enjoyment of the blessings 
of worldly existence. Sober, thoughtful men must 
direct the commerce of the world during the twen¬ 
tieth century. By diligent application to work, by 
a sober, thoughtful, calm mentality, they must keep 
all of their mental and physical faculties intact 

How let us take the young man who wants to be¬ 
come a commercial traveler into our confidence and 
have a good, long talk with him. The standard of 
education is higher now than ever before. Commer¬ 
cial colleges all over the country are turning out 
young men and young women by the thousands; but 
a large per cent, of the graduates of these schools 
will never be worth house room. Dissipated habits, 
cigarettes and other modern evils will soon make 
driftwood of them. However, a large number will 
turn out all right, and the rank and file of business 
men will stand higher, morally and intellectually, 
than ever before. This is the class of men you want 
to measure up to. If you have not had a finished 
education, or have not attended a commercial col¬ 
lege, you need not be discouraged. Education is a 


12 


Introductory. 


grand thing, but you can get great chunks of it 
every day, if you will apply yourself diligently. In 
the first place, you must know that things don’t 
“turn up” in this world until somebody turns them 
up. “Vigilance in watching opportunity, tact and 
daring in seizing opportunity, force and persistence 
in crowding opportunity to its uttermost limit, are 
the material virtues which must command suc¬ 
cess.”—Austin Phelps. 

Kemember—- 

“Opportunity wears all her locks before; 

Take thou hold upon her forehead; 

When she flies, she turns no more, 

And behind her scalp is bare.” 

Never lose an opportunity for self culture, self 
advancement. All fragments of time and spare mo¬ 
ments should be utilized. If you are one of the 
many ambitious young men who are taking the 
places of the older commercial travelers, we know 
that you desire to be piloted along the shoals, over 
the pitfalls, for a little while, until you are sure of 
your footing. The desire on your part is an indica¬ 
tion that you will become a successful commercial 
traveler. The young men who think they know a 
great deal or are too conceited to seek advice or 
guidance, are often blundering failures. However, 
you must have your own ideas of business and must 
assert them boldly and fearlessly, but with quickness 
to comprehend and to change your ideas when errors 
are pointed out. 

Young men of considerable natural ability are 
often placed at a disadvantage by little idiosyncra¬ 
sies, by peculiarities of manner or by a shuffling, un¬ 
dignified bearing, a lack of candor and business 
firmness or a lack of preparation. You must show 
confidence and manliness, which can be acquired by 


Introductory. 


13 


laying aside all deception and studying this book 
carefully, re-reading every article in it Don’t be 
afraid to let your employer know just bow green you 
are. With candor and honesty, show a willingness 
to learn, remembering that you cannot avoid being 
sized up and estimated at your true value. Alex¬ 
ander Hamilton said, “Men give me credit for 
genius, but all the genius I have lies in this—when 
I have a subject on hand, I study it profoundly; the 
fruits of genius I call the fruits of labor and 
thought” 

The high-class traveling salesman does not need to 
be a genius or a brilliant scholai, but common sense 
and strict honesty are essential. 

The opportunities open to young men at the begin¬ 
ning of this twentieth century are immense. The 
United States is destined to become one of the 
greatest nations that ever existed on this mundane 
sphere. The London Daily Year Book for 1902 places 
the United States at the head of the list of the great 
and wealthy nations. The figures of wealth are: 
United States, about $82,000,000,000 ; United King¬ 
dom, about $56,000,000,000; France, about $46,- 
000,000,000'; Germany, $40,000,000,000; Russia, 
about $30,000,000,000. The value of the exports 
from the United States, during the year 1901, was 
$1,024,605,181, and it has increased every year 
since. Last year, 1904, it was nearly $1,500,000,- 
000. This is five millions ahead of any other nation. 
America leads the world in the publication of great 
newspapers. In Printing-House Square, in Nbw 
York City, more white paper is fed to the mammoth 
printing presses daily than is used in any other one 
place in the world. One daily paper, The New York 
Journal, alone spends over a half million dollars a 
year for blank paper. 


Introductory. 


In 1880, the population of the United States was 
about sixty million. In 1900, it was over seventy 
million. In fifty years it will probably be over two 
hundred million. It staggers one’s imagination to 
picture the doings of these vast millions of the peo¬ 
ple of America during the next fifty or one hundred 
years. 

Educated far beyond any generation of the past, 
men will become giants in the commercial world. 
We have a few of them already. The colossal possi¬ 
bilities of commerce should stimulate every young 
man to the greatest possible exertion, while striving 
to rise above every shade of dishonor in business 
transactions. Follow such ideals as will command 
the highest respect. Ee just and honest, remember¬ 
ing that mean rivalry and trickery are in bad form. 

The commercial traveler of the future, keeping 
pace with the times, must expand his ability at the 
call of circumstances. He must read and think. 
Knowledge is power, and power is what you need. 
It is the iron hand beneath the velvet glove that will 
prevail. Some men must be fluttered and cajoled 
into giving patronage; some are sensitive and easily 
offended. To such traveling salesmen as may pos¬ 
sess these same characteristic traits, we would sug¬ 
gest that they memorize the great poet’s expressive 
verse on the subject: 

“At every trifling scorn to take offence, 

That always shows great pride or little sense.” 

Some traveling salesmen talk too much. Great 
talkers are seldom good salesmen, yet “the gift of 
gab” is needful. But don’t talk too much, or you 
may expose your ignorance. Nothing reveals a 
man’s refinement or the lack of it more quickly than 
his language. The use of what the Sunday-school 
teacher would call curse words is going out of style 


Introductory. IS 

with the commercial travelers. Some men try to 
make it appear by their talk that they do not respect 
or fear God, man or the Devil. The weather is either 
“d— cold or d— hot” and “the d— train is late.” 
I have known such men to have splendid abilities, 
and their language appeared to be the only lowbred 
thing about them. It is to be hoped that the vocabu¬ 
lary of the commercial traveler of the future will not 
contain so many “d— ; s.” 

Habitual expressions often show the class and 
calibre of the man. Nothing will improve the con¬ 
versational ability so rapidly as extensive reading of 
the daily papers and the current literature of the 
day. This is the only way to acquire the breadth 
and scope so conspicuous among experienced travel¬ 
ers. Do not talk shop all the while, and do not dis¬ 
cuss your private affairs. 

A bore has been described as one who talks solely 
about himself. Do not speak ill of anyone. It is 
now an accepted canon of good form that only pleas¬ 
ant things be said by the modern twentieth century 
drummer. Ill-natured criticism of your enemies 
and of people who have defrauded you or the house 
you travel for, is a conversational blunder. Keep 
your business troubles and losses to yourself. Re¬ 
member that the best substitute for wisdom is silence, 
and that our worst regrets are for the things we have 
said, not for those left unsaid. The most success¬ 
ful men are those who keep their mouths closed the 
tightest. Don’t discuss politics or religion. A great 
many cranks and fanatics buy goods, and it is your 
business to get their patronage and not to discuss re¬ 
ligious dogmas or political platforms. To speak ill of 
your fellow-man indicates a lack of the broader and 
nobler attributes of manhood. As a traveling sales¬ 
man, you will meet all classes and will soon learn 


16 


^Introductory- 


to appreciate the gentleman; but, as a matter of 
policy, you must not let the bigoted, conceited fel¬ 
low know that you think he is an ass. He probably 
has money (inherited, likely) to pay his bills, and 
when you are not treated with due courtesy, do not 
fret or worry. Cheerfulness is allied to courage, 
and you cannot afford to allow your temper to be 
ruffled or your cheerfulness disturbed by the narrow¬ 
minded, hoggish men you have to deal with. 

It has been said that the two great impulses to all 
human effort are hunger and lust; but this is hardly 
true at the present age. The gratification of the 
appetite and the lustful desires are, it is true, the 
chief objects of a large per centage of mankind, but 
we are entering a new period of civilization, in 
which animalism will not predominate, and the com¬ 
mercial traveler will be a pioneer in this as well as 
other improvements in the commercial status of the 
world. 

The Anglo-Saxon race has lived nearly two thou¬ 
sand years in the Christian era, and in spite of 
shortcomings and depravity in high places, it has 
improved, step by step. We know the finer soul 
fibre must prevail and the world must grow better 
and wiser, as it has been doing for the last two thous¬ 
and years. 

All admire the man whose reputation is known to 
be above reproach. You must rank with the better 
element of humanity, if you want to become a suc¬ 
cessful commercial traveler in the true sense of the 
term; yet there are grades in this profession as well 
as in all others. Each individual must build his own 
character and select his own ideal. Do not imagine 
that hoarding money constitutes success. The most 
miserable failure is the miser who gloats over his 
gold. Get the wisdom which develops and broadens 


Introductory. 17 

the intellect and increases one’s value as a salesman 
and as a man. 

The success of all wholesale houses depends largely 
on their ability to select the right kind of man. 
Good salesmen are being searched for far and wide. 
Like race horses, they command high prices if they 
are winners; but if only common plantation stock, 
their places can be filled easily, and a fresh horse 
will trot faster for a while, though he may be only a 
plug. Do not be afraid of not being duly credited 
with all the ability you possess. You will be weighed 
and measured very nearly correctly. Your ability 
as a salesman can be developed far beyond what you 
imagine. Apply yourself diligently to the study of 
this book and the kind of goods you are selling. 
Make your services valuable, and wholesale people 
will want you because you are worth money to them, 
if you are worth three thousand a year and expenses, 
they may give you fifteen or eighteen hundred. If 
you are only worth about $800.00, they will not give 
you $T,000.00. Your territory and line of goods 
may be such as to make it impossible for you to earn 
a large salary. If this is the case, work the harder, 
study your employer’s interest, and try to make your 
business more profitable. If you succeed in doing 
this, some other house whose facilities arc better may 
need you. However, without generalizing longer, 
we commend to your earnest, study the following 
pointed facts and short essays on the art of selling. 


The riission of the r ^ 
Positive flan. 


iyrO man achieves anything worthy until he learns 
the power of conviction, until he feels that he 
can accomplish something if he wills it strong 
enough and long enough. If you want to be a suc¬ 
cessful salesman, just say, “I can and I will be a 
success.” Never let “/ cant” get into your mind. 

The world stands aside for a man who has a pro¬ 
gramme, a mission, a calling, to do that which he 
feels a throbbing compulsion within him to do. 

Stoutly affirm your ability to do what you under¬ 
take. Every affirmation strengthens your position. 

One of the best strengtheners of character and 
developers of stamina generally, is to assume the 
part you wish to play; to stoutly assert the posses¬ 
sion of whatever you lack. If you are deficient in 
courage, staying power, pluck or determination, 
learn to assert vigorously these qualities, because 
you own them by a divine right. Be thoroughly con¬ 
vinced that they belong to you, that you should 
'possess them, and that you do. Then you will 
strengthen your success-position wonderfully. 

Grant had this positive quality, this firm convic¬ 
tion that he could accomplish whatever he undertook. 
There was nothing negative in him. He did not 
stop, in the midst of a great crisis, to consider if 
failure were possible; he did not doubt, but con¬ 
stantly affirmed, and was always on the 'positive 
side. 



The Mission of the Positive Man. 


19 


It is the positive Lincolns, Washingtons and 
Grants who achieve results. The positive man is 
wanted everywhere, the man with the plus quali¬ 
ties and leadership. He is fearless, courageous; his 
conviction is horn of the consciousness of strength. 

Hever allow yourself to admit that you are inferior 
to the emergency confronting you, for this is to in¬ 
vite defeat. Stoutly affirm that you can do the thing. 
The moment you harbor a doubt of your ability, at 
moment you capitulate to the enemy. 

Every time you acknowledge weakness, a defi¬ 
ciency or a lack of ability, or harbor doubt, you 
weaken your self-confidence, and that means weak¬ 
ening the very foundation, the very possibility of 
your success. 

A young man might as well expect to cross the 
Alps by sitting down, declaring that the undertaking 
is too great for him, that he can never accomplish it, 
and that he is afraid of the avalanches and of getting 
lost, as to hope to attain success in life while he is 
expressing doubts and fears of his ability to do what 
he undertakes. The achievement of such a man will 
never rise higher than his confidence .—Success 
Magazine. 


^ ^ ^ 

STRIVING for SUCCESS. 

tfc ^ 


f E are striving for success; but what are our 
methods of attaining success as traveling men ? 
Some months ago, the writer was the traveling 
companion for a short distance on an L. and H. train 
of the president of a big New York life insurance 
company. The conversation drifted to his large 
number of agents and to what he considered their 
most successful methods. “I urge upon them,” said 
he, “to raise their business to the plane of a profes¬ 
sion. You choose your doctor or lawyer, not on ac¬ 
count of his convenience to your home or office, but 
because he has those qualities that have won your 
confidence. I say to them, ‘Do not sell a man a 
policy as a butcher or baker would, but treat every¬ 
one who consults you in regard to insurance so as to 
win his confidence, by convincing him you are mas¬ 
ter of every detail of the business, and that your 
advice as to the kind of policy best suited to his 
needs is given with the same care he would expect 
of any other professional advice.’ ” 

His words have often recurred to the writer ; and 
is he not right? “Knowledge is power,” was never 
so true as in this age of “specialists.” If you ex¬ 
pect to be a force in your line, you must know it. 
It makes no difference what you sell; study it in all 
the details of its manufacture, as far as accessible. 
Most lines have their distinctive trade journals. 
Take the one best treating of your business. Keep in 



Striving for Success. 


21 


touch with all the new developments in producing 
and selling your own goods. But above this, we 
would urge with Shakespeare—• 

“To thine own self be true, 

And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” 

Win the respect of your patrons by your know¬ 
ledge of your wares, and their confidence by never 
misrepresenting anything. When it is possible to 
protect their interests in any way, do so, whether 
they expect it or not. No other investment will pay 
you such dividends as the absolute confidence of your 
clients. Competition has narrowed profits down to 
such a margin that there are no great inducements 
to he offered in price differences. It is largely a 
question of giving the “preference” to one man over 
another. In all lines, T. P. A.’s should be those 
who are on the professional plans.— M. W. Budd, in 
T. P. A. News Letter. 


t 


^ ^ ^ 

Getting Our Dominion. 

T. « H 


[ AH was made to lead, to rule, to dominate. 
There is nothing cringing, sneaking or apolo¬ 
gizing in the normal being made by God. The 
commercial salesman is not a mere hireling, he is 
a very important factor in the commercial world. A 
weak, discouraged, disheartened, discordant being 
is no more the man God made than is the harshest 
jargon sweet music. 

Man was made to hold up his head, to assert his 
God-given birthright—to be a Man! Success is as 
much his normal element as water is the normal elo- 
ment of the fish. He was not made to live in an 
atmosphere of doubt, to be haunted and dogged 
through life by fear and uncertainty. Some whole¬ 
sale houses vent their spleen on the traveling sales¬ 
man by writing disagreeable letters. This greatly 
deteriorates the salesman’s ability and makes suc¬ 
cess harder. A life of servitude or subjection is no 
man’s normal state. 


The normal man exhales force from every pore; 
his presence carries power; he wins his victory be¬ 
fore he strikes a blow; his eyes and his bearing carry 
conviction; he conquers even in silence. 

Save a portion of your earnings! 

Be the master of circumstances and surroundings, 
not their slave. Fight poor, weak, sick thoughts as 
enemies of happiness and success. The thought that 
one is a victim of circumstances, whose success and 



Never Walt for the Crowd. 


23 


happiness depend on chance, and the habit of looking 
on one’s self as a poor, miserable, fallen creature, are 
demoralizing to mind and body and absolutely de¬ 
structive to all noble character building.— Success. 


t tl t 


NEVER WAIT FOR THE CROWD. 


® HE man who does things, who brings about 
results, who feels within himself the power 
of achievement and is determined to make 
himself known in the world, never waits to see what 
the crowd is going to do. 

He does not ask advice of everybody he knows or 
wait for precedents. He lays out his own plans, 
thinks his own thoughts, directs his own energies, 
plays the game with the cards he has, and does not 
ask for an impossible pack. He does not complain 
because obstacles appear in his path; and when he 
comes to them, he goes through them, not over them 
or around them. He never whines or grumbles ; he 
simply keeps to his task and works in a vigorous, 
manly way. He goes about everything he undertakes 
with a determination that insures victory. It takes 
courage and originality to step out from the crowd 
and to act independently—to jump into deep water, 
as it were, and swim or sink. The man who acts 
boldly wins the confidence of the world. 

To be a successful salesman, you must be a man 
of courage, patience and perseverance,— Anonymous. 


High Stools and * ^ 

^ 115 * ^ Low Salaries. 


A THOUSAND young men know and do the same 
Jr\ thing, at the same time, at the same weekly 
wages. One young fellow sizes up the thousand 
and the future, revolts at his prospect, hunts up some 
newer, shorter way, and climbs up on those two 
thousand shoulders to responsibility and profit It 
is the old controversy again of the specialist versus 
the mass. 

The man with the hoe is all right in his field, for 
we must have garden truck. He of the pen and 
ledger, who adds up rows of figures, is all right, too, 
for our accounts will need him until inanimate adding 
machines are perfected. But a world all hoes, pens 
and ledgers would he at a standstill. Watt saw in the 
kettle lid dancing on steam more than a natural 
kitchen occurrence. Newton saw more in the falling 
apple than a missile to he dodged. Morse made the 
voiceless wire a conduit for speech, and annihilated 
space. All those men thought and kept on thinking. 

Aeronauts move highest in the world, using brains 
and ballast. Give the same requisites, brains and 
moral sand to a man who wants to climb, and climb 
he will, no matter what mountains of difficulty must 
be scaled. If you add balance, or poise, to his 
makeup, he owns the ideal combination for controll¬ 
ing success. 

What are the essentials of skillful chess playing? 
First, ability to see a dozen moves ahead; second, 



High Stools and Low Salaries. 


25 


the faculty of meeting and overcoming unexpected 
upsets; third, ingenuity in quickly devising new 
strategic points; then, nerve, to plunge and cut loose 
from time-worn tradition and to succeed by dint of 
very difference. 

A diamond’s attraction lies largely in its changeful 
aspect. One prism reflects more light than another. 
The man who, many-sided and resourceful, turns a 
new face to new exigencies, minimizes defeat. 

People will disagree with much of this and talk 
about heredity or temperament or a young man’s 
surroundings making or marring him. I claim that 
any young fellow of ordinary education and percep¬ 
tions, with all the books at his command, hammer¬ 
ing perseverance, energy, 'know-something and he- 
something into his head, has it in his power to ignore 
temperament and to defy heredity. Walking along 
his native streets, he will see countless clerks, all 
hewn from the same block, pursuing their weary 
routine of business life, while, in an inner office, 
the employer, who thought along other lines, is count¬ 
ing bank deposits and figuring on some new field for 
multiplying his surplus. Apathy and dull content 
with the present are worms that gnaw away initia¬ 
tive. It is the steady, remorseless pressing on and 
up through the ages that has substituted silver forks 
for fingers, silk dresses for skins of animals, the 
automobile for the clumsy chariot, and the myriad 
other evolutions from crudity to comfort. Whether 
one believes it or not, there is more to be invented 
than has yet been made known; in all likelihood, the 
twenty centuries that have rolled by will not have 
begun to do for humanity what humanity will do 
for itself in the one hundred years ahead. 

Watchful eyes are on every branch of business, 
to systematize and to economize. Employers, in the 


26 


High Stools and Low Salaries. 


press and stress of competition, are looking, as never 
before, for bright minds and loyal hearts to bear a 
share of the brunt. Subordinates, like Atlas, bear up 
the world of commerce, and get quick recognition and 
advancement, if worthy. In the flood tide of the 
Young Man’s Era, at the turn of the new century, 
fresh, unworn brains are being hunted down and 
splendidly rewarded. 

To the clean man, the man of probity and intelli¬ 
gence, sure of himself (but not too sure), with his 
mind working like a piston rod and his body built 
up by exercise and regularity, no position is unreach¬ 
able, no human goal is too far away. As the old- 
time wall between master and man is being breached, 
more and more, by mutual interest, co-operation of 
workers, high and low, looms up as inevitable. On 
the one side, there should be prompt recognition of 
merit, and, at all times, courteous consideration; 
on the other, fidelity, unstinted labor, head-work and 
honest effort. It is the climax of trade union, ap¬ 
proaching along peaceful, modem lines.— J. L. 
Follit. 


H ^ 


Keeping Up With * ^ 

^ ti ^ the Times. 


A STORY is told of a soldier who complained that 
the entire regiment was out of step with him. 
We often see men struggling desperately alone 
to succeed along their own lines, refusing to accept 
what they call “newfangled” business improve¬ 
ments, which they ridicule as fads that will soon go 
out of date. Such men never make their mark in 
the world, and usually die in obscurity, if not in 
actual poverty. 

We know old, substantial wholesale houses that 
have fallen into ruts and are practically sidetracked, 
because they refused to adopt up-to-date methods. 
They argue that it is foolish to pay large salaries to 
expert salesmen. But their up-to-date competitors 
know the reason why it is necessary. They know 
that this is a progressive age, when everybody wants 
to patronize the most modem houses. A reputation 
for being out-of-date, behind the times, no matter 
what the business or profession, will soon make itself 
felt in loss of patronage, and your patrons will do 
business with those who progress with the times. 
We know men who have kept country stores for 
years, who have never been able to make more 
than a bare living, simply because they have gotten 
into ruts and are too conservative or too indolent to 
try to adopt improved methods. They are always be¬ 
hind the times in style, and are constantly running 
out of things that their customers are likely to call 



28 


Keeping Up With the Times. 

for. Their goods are scattered about in a haphazard 
fashion, without any attempt to make an attractive 
display. They do not keep their books in a system¬ 
atic way. Their accounts are all in disorder. 
They trust everybody, are very loose in their collect¬ 
ions, never take an inventory of their stock, and 
never know just how they stand. When a bright, 
vigorous, up-to-date young man, who knows how to 
conduct a business according to the twentieth-century 
ideas, enters into competition with “old fogy” store¬ 
keepers of this type, the result is a foregone conclu¬ 
sion. Before they realize it, their customers, one by 
one, have dropped away, and their trade is almost 
entirely in the hands of the newcomer. There are 
teachers who have taught successfully for many 
years, who have been hopelessly sidetracked, simply 
because they clung to old methods and decried every 
new educational idea brought forward as superficial 
and subversive of the true interests of education. 

Lawyers lose their clients because they do not 
keep up with the march of progress. They do not 
buy the latest law books or law publications. They 
cling to old methods, old books, old precedents, and 
to the archaic style of oratory, once so popular with 
juries, but now utterly out of date. Their offices 
are dingy, and they themselves are indifferent as to 
their personal appearance; yet they wonder why 
their clients forsake them and put their business into 
the hands of comparatively inexperienced young 
men. 

A physician is sidetracked because he stops grow¬ 
ing soon after leaving college, does not take pains 
to read the best medical publications or to analyze 
and test new methods of treatment. Self-satisfied 
and depending upon his own skill, old books, appli¬ 
ances and remedies, he moves on in the old groove. 


29 


Keeping Up With the Times. 

He does not realize that the young practitioner who 
has settled in his neighborhood has just come from 
actual practice in the best equipped hospitals; that 
he has the newest surgical instruments and appli¬ 
ances, the latest scientific and medical books, and a 
new office fitted up in the latest and most approved 
style—until a large part of his practice has slipped 
out of his hands. When the “gone-by” physician 
wakes up to the real state of things, he attributes it 
to anything but the true cause—his own non-progres- 
siveness. All this applies with equal force to the 
commercial traveler, and to the firms who employ 
him. 

The old-fashioned farmer does not believe in “new¬ 
fangled” ideas and modem farming implements or 
in studying the chemistry of the soil. He thinks 
that because his father raised com and potatoes on 
the same piece of ground for twenty years, thus 
vearing it out, that he himself should keep on doing 
die same. He does not believe in nature’s law of rota¬ 
tion of crops, and he trudges along in the beaten 
track of his ancestors, barely getting a living, while 
Lis enterprising neighbor, who owns an adjoining 
firm of similar quality, by mixing brains with the 
soil, and adopting the latest, up-to-date methods, per¬ 
forms miracles with his land, making himself and his 
family comfortable and happy, and at the same time 
enjoying his work and increasing his knowledge. 

Many instances could be given of able artists who 
have gained considerable reputation in this country, 
as well as abroad, but have been sidetracked, because 
they have failed to adopt the new methods of color- 
scLeme and drawing, as they have come into vogue. 
They have clung to the old methods, refusing to 
change, and have been left behind in the onward 
march. W© know of one old artist who gained a 


30 Why Should a Commercial Traveler Be in Love? 

high reputation by his method of careful detail in 
finish. He was proud of the fact that even a magni¬ 
fying glass could scarcely detect his paint He 
prided himself on erasing the traces of his efforts. 
His pictures were really wonderful in their correct¬ 
ness of detail; but, when the impressionism of the 
new school became the fashion, he fought it with all 
his might, refused to adopt the “newfangled” 
methods, denounced the impressionists as defamers 
of true art, and was compelled to face old age in 
poverty and comparative obscurity. He had been 
sidetracked because of his failure to adopt up-to- 
date methods .—William Q. Adams. 

Xt Xt Xt 

WHY SHOULD A COMMERCIAL TRAVELER 
BE IN love;? 

The following verses will explain: 

The night has a thousand eyes, 

The day, but one; 

But the light of a whole world dies 
With the setting sun. 

The mind has a thousand eyes, 

The heart, but one; 

But the light of a whole life dies, 

When Love is done. 


^ ^ It 


Sensitiveness and ^ ^ ^ 
<* * <* * * Success. 


ANY traveling salesmen are kept back, in their 
efforts to get along in the world, by oversensi¬ 
tiveness. We know able young men who are 
well educated and well fitted for commercial travel¬ 
ers, but w r ho are so extremely sensitive to criticism 
or suggestion that they never rise to the places to 
which their abilities entitle them. Their feelings 
are constantly being wounded by fancied slights in 
the office, the shop, the store, the mill, the factory, 
or wherever else they may happen to be. They carry 
about with them, most of the time, a sense of injury 
which not only makes them unhappy, but which, to 
a great extent, mars their efficiency. 

Over-sensitive people are usually very fine¬ 
grained, highly organized and intelligent, and if 
they could overcome this weakness, they would be¬ 
come capable and valuable men. We are inclined to 
think that this weakness is an exaggerated form of 
conceit, which causes self to loom up on the mental 
retina in such large proportions as to overshadow 
everything else. The victim of it feels that, wherever 
he goes, whatever he does, he is the center of obser¬ 
vation, and that all eyes, all thoughts, are focused 
upon him. 

This supersensitiveness, so destructive to happi¬ 
ness and success, and incidentally to health (for 
whatever destroys harmony destroys health), betrays, 
in a sense, a lack of self-respect, of which no man 



32 


To My Enemy. 


should voluntarily be guilty. To be a complete man, 
one must be conscious, but not in an offensive way, 
of his own worth and dignity. He must feel himself 
superior to envious criticism or ridicule. When 
some one told Diogenes that he was derided, he re¬ 
plied, “But I am not derided.” He counted only 
those ridiculed who feel the ridicule and are dis¬ 
composed by it.— Success. 

TO MY EHEMJY. 

Let those who will of friendship sing, 

And to its guerdon grateful be, 

But I a lyric garland bring 

To crown thee, oh, mine enemy! 

Thanks, endless thanks, to thee I owe, 

For that my lifelong journey through, 

Thv honest hate has done for me 

What love, perchance, had failed to do. 

I had not scaled such weary heights 
But that I held thy scorn in fear, 

And never keenest lure might match 
The subtle goading of thy sneer. 

Thine anger struck from me a fire 
That purged all dull content away; 

Our mortal strife to me has been 
Unflagging spur from day to day. 

And thus, while all the world may laud 
The gifts of love and loyalty, 

I lay my meed of gratitude 
Before thy feet, mine enemy! 

— L. M. Montgomery . 


Selling Goods by the * ^ 
^ ^ ^ Aid of Hypnotism. 


JtJ ROFESSOR L. A. Harraden says it is the glory 
of the present century to have led hypnotism 
into the ranks of the orderly and useful sciences. 
Hypnotism is the most wonderful wonderland in all 
the whole realm of science. 

“ There are more things in Heaven and earth, 
Horatio, than were ever dreamed of in thy philoso¬ 
phy . 77 The term hypnotism was derived from a. 
Greek word, and signifies sleep. Mesmerism, 
thought transference, and a few other terms, refer 
to a certain phase of hypnotism. 

The part we propose to deal with, in this chapter, 
has reference to the science of influencing or con¬ 
trolling the minds and actions of people with whom 
we wish to deal. 

As the average reader is supposed to be totally 
ignorant of this power, it may he well to make a 
few plain statements, to serve as lights, to banish all 
false and absurd ideas about hypnotism and to pre¬ 
pare the mind of the reader for the reception of what 
we propose to say. 

First, let it be understood that no one can be 
hypnotized against his will. He must aid the opera¬ 
tor, either consciously or unconsciously. 

Second, no hypnotist can obtain absolute control 
over anyone permanently. 

Third, the effects of hypnotism are entirely harm¬ 
less and will wear off in a short time. 



34 Selling Goods by the Aid ot Hypnotism. 


Fourth, hypnotism is not a power by which a 
strong mind controls a weaker one. Bright, intelli¬ 
gent people make the best subjects. Only the first, 
or primary part of hypnotism, such as thought trans¬ 
ference, magnetism and mental suggestion can be 
used in selling goods. The deeper stages, the hyp¬ 
notic sleep or cataleptic states, are of no service 
whatever to a salesman. 

To deny that one mind can exert a hypnotic influ¬ 
ence over another would be absurd, and we take it 
for granted that this much is conceded. Our pur¬ 
pose now is to give the intelligent salesman some 
practical ideas about this wonderful power he pos¬ 
sesses and probably has used many a time without 
knowing he was using a hypnotic power. It is not 
the writer’s intention to attempt an explanation of 
the mental phenomenon of hypnotism. Our object 
is to encourage the reader to make individual efforts 
to master and to develop the power he possesses. 

To understand that you have hypnotic power, you 
must first understand, concede and realize that man 
is the most wonderful being in all the world. Every 
intelligent human being possesses a mental kingdom, 
with innumerable subjects. These subjects or things 
(children of the mind) are called thoughts, ideas, 
conceptions, etc. They run riot all over our mental 
domain. Thousands of them stand back in the 
shadows, subject to beck and call. Back beyond these 
are thousands and thousands we have never known. 
These are the things that govern our actions. They 
spring up in our minds like jumping Jacks, some 
amusing, some comical and provoking us to laughter, 
some vile and utterly depraved. We must dismiss the 
bad from our mental sanctuary, or they will, in time, 
corrupt our lives. Do you know which ones to call 
up in your prospective customer’s mind ? 


Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism. 35 

If you are trying to sell a piano or a steam engine 
or a case of shoes or a ten-thousand-dollar life in¬ 
surance policy, v you need different thoughts to help 
you in each case. Such thoughts as would help you 
sell a piano would be utterly worthless in selling a 
different article. Each salesman must be his own 
judge as to what trend of thought will help him. 

Thoughts must be vigorous and lively in your 
mind before they can be transferred to the buyer’s 
mind. If you are selling shoes, you must drive out 
of your mind every thought that does not pertain to 
shoes; then make positive suggestions to the buyer 
that he needs shoes, or that he will need them soon. 
Make the suggestions inaudible. Your customer 
will not know you are making them. Get his mind 
full of thoughts about shoes. If your mind is concen¬ 
trated on shoes, and the buyer’s mind can he concen¬ 
trated on shoes, your hypnotic suggestions will take 
effect in the buyer’s miild and will influence him to 
buy without his knowing whence the influence came. 

Every suggestion must he reasonable and must he 
made in a pleasant hut 'positive way, and you must 
crowd it along, or some other thoughts will force 
their way into the arena and scatter your forces. 

A! salesman should always keep himself in a posi¬ 
tive and persuasive attitude. A negative, supplicant 
salesman is a failure at all times. He may sell 
enough to hold his job and draw a small salary, hut 
he has missed his calling. 

A salesman must have some enthusiasm and must 
cultivate a vigorous and lively disposition. This 
helps to develop his magnetic and hypnotic powers. 

Professor Weltmer says magnetism is the intelli¬ 
gent exercise of an educated will. Whoever has a 
will, has magnetism. If you possess a will and a 
desire to sell a bill of goods, you must simply believe 


36 


Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism. 

you can do it and direct your magnetic influence to 
the accomplishment of the task. If you cannot work 
yourself up to the point of believing a thing can be 
done, you will be a failure in everything where this 
belief is lacking. 

You need thought transference and hypnotic power 
to help you. If you can talk your customer into 
buying the goods you are selling, you may be sure 
you are using hypnotism. 

But suppose you do not succeed in talking people 
into buying from you as liberally as from other 
salesmen. Then you may be sure you have not used 
the same amount of hypnotic influence. Every suc¬ 
cessful salesman juggles, more or less, with thought 
transference and mesmeric influences, although he 
may not be aware of the fact 

From the above, the reader may conclude that it 
would be a good plan to study the successful sales¬ 
man and to imitate him. This, however, would be 
a fatal error. Fever try to imitate another in any¬ 
thing. Finety-five per cent, of the human race are 
imitators, and ninety-five per cent, are failures to the 
extent that they try to imitate others. 

Every man does business somewhat differently 
from every other man, and every man uses hypnotic 
power a little differently from every other man. The 
necessary thing is confidence in your own ability to 
do a thing in your own way. 

The successful salesman must be a thinker, and his 
thoughts must be bright and original. The following 
plain and simple directions will bring success ninety- 
nine times out of a hundred: 

1. Turn all of your hypnotic and will power into 
a supreme effort to better yourself. 

2. Fill up on hypnotic suggestions every night, 
and before you go to sleep, give yourself the foliow- 


Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism. 37 

ing suggestions: I am going to be a successful sales¬ 
man; I am going to succeed in life. I am going to 
sleep sound and feel all right to-morrow, and each 
day henceforth I am going to develop my intellectual 
and hypnotic powers. 

3. Do not willingly concede to any man any power 
or ability you do not claim for yourself. 

4. All men originated from the same Divine 
source. Some think more and learn more and do 
more than others. Determine that you will he one 
who thinks and who succeeds. 

5. Every time you breathe, eat, or take a drink of 
water, make the suggestion to what the mental sci¬ 
entist calls the subjective mind, that this air, this 
water, and all other surroundings, are to give me new 
life and strength and magnetic and hypnotic power 
to succeed as a salesman or at anything else I may 
undertake. 

Memorize the above and repeat them to yourself 
every day for a month, acting each day in accord¬ 
ance with the suggestion. You will be astonished at 
the results; and the reason is this: a man think- 

eth in his heart, so is he.” The suggestive mind 
controls absolutely every muscle and nerve and excre¬ 
tion and secretion of the body; hence, when the 
mind receives the suggestion that you will succeed, 
and you begin to act on the suggestion and to be¬ 
lieve you can succeed, this belief encourages persis¬ 
tent effort. In this way you will have hypnotized 
and transformed yourself into a successful salesman. 
I once knew a salesman to talk to a merchant for an 
hour, after a positive assurance that nothing was 
wanted, without alluding to business at all. I 
watched the process. The salesman was slowly hyp¬ 
notizing his victim, without consciously knowing 
anything about hypnotism. Slowly but surely he 


38 Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism. 


laid the foundation. He cajoled, humored and 
played with the man (psychologically), hypnotized 
him, and finally pulled out his order book and sold 
a big bill of goods. With my knowledge of hypno¬ 
tism and psychology, I readily comprehended the 
process, and saw clearly why one man could sell 
while another man failed. 

EVery successful salesman uses hypnotism to a 
large extent, but may not know it The foxhound 
knows nothing about “scent,” but he catches the fox 
by the use of it, just the same. 

I want you to give this subject some serious 
thought. You must acknowledge that there is a 
power or an influence that some men use. If you 
do not choose to call it hypnotism, you give it some 
other name. You may call it persuasion or magnet¬ 
ism or anything you like, but study the subject, read 
and reread this chapter, and try to improve on the 
suggestions given. The subject is a fruitful one, 
but it will seem tangled and incomprehensible until 
you give it a certain amount of study. 

The process by which we improve and develop 
our persuasive, magnetic and hypnotic power is a 
process of suggestions. Make it a fixed and perma¬ 
nent habit to suggest to your passive mind that you 
are a first-class salesman. Then, assume the atti¬ 
tude of a high-class, successful salesman. If you do 
not know what is the mental attitude of a first-class 
salesman, just use your imagination, and whatever 
attitude your imagination may picture will be the 
correct one for you, and you can stick to it all your 
life, making such few changes as will naturally sug¬ 
gest themselves. Fix your mind intently upon the 
idea that you are a success, and that nothing on earth 
can prevent your success. Maintain a fixed deter¬ 
mination to be above the average in everything. Do 


Selling Goods by ihe Aid of Hypnotism. 39 

not allow doubts, fears and discouragements to enter 
your mind. They are the microbes that weaken your 
mental calibre. Banish them as you would thoughts 
of theft or murder. Drop your old thought habit 
and keep your mind on “I can” and “I will” thoughts. 
If you should fail at first, do not let it discourage 
you. Banish all discouraging thoughts and try again, 
marshaling your forces for the next battle with ban¬ 
ners spread and drums beating. There is no victory 
for the army that becomes discouraged, frightened 
or stampeded. Picture yourself, by an effort of the 
imagination, as a man possessing all the necessary 
qualities of a successful man. 

By carrying the thought -with you continually and 
dwelling upon it every leisure moment, day and 
night, this process will, in a short time, affect the* 
passive, or sub-conscious mind, and will often change 
the entire character. In time, all your faculties will 
habitually assume the attitude of a successful man, 
and you will then begin to realize the wonderful 
power hidden in these suggestions. If you can catch 
the -real idea, and once get started in the proper 
ehannel, the result will almost startle you. Remem¬ 
ber that your body is not you. Your mind is not 
you. The mind is merely a faculty by which you 
manifest yourself. You have been conscious of your 
animal self only. 

The worlds greatest psychologists and brain spec¬ 
ialists all agree that the mind is twofold in its 
nature—dual, or double; the objective and the sub¬ 
jective. 

The objective mind is brought into existence by 
the intelligent and harmonious working of the five 
animal senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, 
tasting. These five senses make up the objective 
mind. 


40 Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism. 


The subjective mind is a subconscious intelligence 
brought into existence by the harmonious working 
of the spiritual senses, and is the God part of man. 
This subconscious mind never sleeps, never forgets, 
and is susceptible of all knowledge, but is peculiarly 
hampered by the animal senses. Some persons are 
gifted with the ability to annul the animal senses 
temporarily and to free the spiritual faculties. This 
is called clairvoyance, and trans-mediumship, and 
explains bow a medium can go into a trance and dis¬ 
cover bidden things or learn the whereabouts of lost 
treasures. 

The subjective mind is a storehouse for impressions 
and convictions of the objective mind, and every 
corpuscle of the blood and every fibre of the body is 
influenced by the impressions and beliefs that are 
stored away in the subconscious mind. a As a man 
thinketh in bis heart, so is he.” Some false beliefs 
are harmful, physically, mentally, morally and 
spiritually, while others, though false, have a bene¬ 
ficial influence. If correct, they are conducive to 
health, happiness and mental poise. It has been 
proved, hundreds of times, that certain impressions 
made on the subconscious mind, with certain mental 
attitudes, will so affect the bodily functions as to 
cure disease, nervousness, bashfulness, timidity, etc. 
This discovery is what all mental healers, Christian 
Scientists and Faith Christs rely upon. The 
Christian Scientists have been so carried away by the 
discovery that they ignore physicians and drugs al¬ 
together; but when they learn more of the science 
of mind and comprehend more fully the nature and 
power of the great spiritual invisible vitality called 
God, Creator, they will learn to combine therapeutics, 
doctors and drugs with Christian Science, and by a 
wise use of all aids and means, make more effective 


Selling Goods by the Aid of Hypnotism. 41 


and more wonderful cures. The controversy now 
going on between the doctors and the Christian 
Scientists, the Mental Healers and the Faith Christs, 
reminds one of the dispute between the old lady and 
her husband as to whether they saw a mouse or a rat 
run across the hall. Finally, when they had almost 
come to blows, the little boy explained that it was his 
ball they had seen. They were both wrong in their 
contention, but the fact remained that some lively 
object did cross the hall. While doctors ignore the 
methods of the Christian Scientists and Divine 
Healers, the fact remains that some lively object has 
been seen to roll across the mental hall of modern 
science, and the world will never be satisfied until 
it knows what the object is. You must learn the 
truth or grope along in the dark. The more you 
learn about the subject, the better salesman you will 
be. 

The psychologist, the hypnotist and the mental 
scientist are probably the strongest believers in God 
and the Bible, but their childhood beliefs in religious 
creeds are soon laid aside. 

Remember you will be largely what you think 
yourself into being. Fix firmly in your mind what 
you wish to be, and believe yourself into being the 
real thing. If you want to be a first class commercial 
salesman, just assert that you are one and stick to the 
assertion, and you will, in time, find others who will 
begin to think as you do. 

The salesman who reads this chapter and is not 
benefited by it will be like the miner who stumbles 
over a huge lump of gold and refuses to pick it up, 
believing it to be a lump of worthless ore.— Pro¬ 
fessor J. CJiris. Johnson. 


^ ^ ^ 

Talk by Howard Peak. 

tt ^ 


The Drummer ajne How He Would Like to be 
Treated. 


OWARD W. PEAK delivered an address be¬ 
fore the Southwestern Retail Saddle and 
Harness-Makers’ Association at Fort Worth, 
Texas, January 15, which the author regrets he 
cannot find room to reprint in full, as every line 
is pregnant with interest to traveling men and their 
employers. The following extracts will, however, 
give you a fair idea of the scope and tone of this 
eloquent and forceful argument. 

“Shortly after having been advised that I would be 
called on to reply to the question of, “How a Drum¬ 
mer Would Like to be Treated,” I chanced to meet 
Billy Digges, to whom I put the question. In his 
plain, outspoken way, he replied, ‘Straight, of 


course.’ 

Perhaps I might go further in search of an answer 
and find no better; but realizing that more is ex¬ 
pected on this occasion in words, if not in wisdom, T 
beg to enter further into details. 

In the first place, treat him as a business man. 
His time is his capital, and of it he is very jealous. 
He is out for business, and is deserving that con¬ 
sideration due one brother to another: for we are 
all but brothers struggling through this vale of tears 
together. 



Talk by Howard Peak. 43 

Second. A dr um mer wants to be treated to jour 
confidence. 

This, to him, is as sacred as are the relations of 
his own fireside. It is neither politic nor honorable 
for him to betray the trust reposed in him by his 
customer. Yet how often does he find, as a return for 
that confidence, that he has been betrayed by the 
buyer. 

Don’t you know that the strongest card that you 
can play with a traveling man, when you are not 
posted on his line and necessarily have to rely on him 
for the correct price, is to leave the matter to his 
sense of honor ? Why, my brother, he would suffer 
his right hand to be cut off sooner than betray that 
confidence. But these mistrusting fellows who think 
everybody is trying to rob them, these “smart Alecks” 
who know more about your business than you do, 
and who are continually seeking to take advantage 
of every little point and technicality, they are “fish” 
for the shrewd salesman. 

Third. The drummer would like to be treated 
as a Christian. 

When I use this word, I do so in the broadest 
and most comprehensive sense, and I would, there¬ 
fore, ask that he be not contrasted, to his detriment 
(as some good. Christians are wont to do), with the 
citizens whose circumstances are very different. This 
latter man, whose business duties keep him confined 
to his office or shop during the week, welcomes the 
advent of Sunday, that lie may get a change of scene 
and thought and faces. He goes to church, listens 
attentively to the preacher, drops a quarter or a dime 
into the contribution box, feeling satisfied that he has 
done his full duty. But I am considering, as well, 
him who lives six days out of seven talking and 
listening to others talk, until he has a surfeit; who 


44 


Talk by HowardiPeak. 


is almost constantly on the go, eating at different 
tables and sleeping in different beds, away from home 
and loved ones; who, when he gets home Saturday 
night, weary and worn, sleeps late, and on Sunday 
lias an accumulation of “changes” to enter into his 
Price Book, letters to answer, notification cards to 
mail; and who, for the rest of the day and evening, 
does not feel like sitting up and listening to a, per¬ 
haps, uninteresting sermon for an hour, but would 
rather spend the time with wife and babes. This last 
personage, who is no other than our drummer, has a 
record for good deeds done on nearly every day of 
the week. 

If you go his way and see the many unfortunate 
specimens of humanity whom he is assisting and the 
charitable institutions that he is helping to main¬ 
tain, you would agree that he is possessed of the spirit 
of Christianity that is helping onward the move¬ 
ment of this grand old world. His creed is that 
foundation of true religion which gets its origin from 
Christ, who said, “Do unto others as you would have 
them do unto you.” As an adjuster of differences 
that naturally arise between the house and customer, 
and as a peacemaker between the people of the nation, 
the sections of our country, and among individuals, 
there is no man that can excel the drummer; and the 
good book says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for 
they shall be called the children of God.” 

Lastly. The drummer wants to be treated as a 
friend. 

Don’t get an idea that, though he appears ever 
cheerful, he does not need your words of encourage¬ 
ment. Too often the employer withholds that bit of 
kindly sentiment that should be bestowed upon labor 
well done, and which, while not costing anything, 
would do a world of good. He needs your sympathy. 


A Daily Thought. 


46 


Away from the hallowed influences of the home 
circle so much of the time, he will the better appre¬ 
ciate little courtesies and kind words that are offered 
along his pathway. Treat him as you would have 
him treat you were your position reversed, and you 
will ever get the best of his abilities and reap larger 
rewards from his energies.” 


^ 


A DAILY THOUGHT. 

In men whom men pronounce as ill, 

I find so much of goodness still, 

In men whom men pronounce divine, 

I find so much of sin and blot, 

I hesitate to draw the line 

Between the two, when God has not. 

—Joaquin Miller. 


H ^ ^ 


m « « 

Waiting to be Aroused. 

^ Vl 


ANY people never get fully awakened. Go 
into a large store or factory and watch the 
people work. Many of them look as if they 
were not fully masters of themselves. They are 
but partially aroused, mere dwarfs of the possible 
man or woman. They have never discovered their 
powers. Having found that they can get along with 
a moderate degree of activity, they are content to do 
so, using the least possible physical and mental effort. 

The same thing is true with lots of traveling men 
we meet in life. They seem to need a few sharp 
words from some friend to put them in full motion. 
They do not know their own capabilities. They have 
never made a tour of investigation and discovery to 
see what continents of power really exist, but are 
content to cultivate little islands of energy here and 
there, just enough to hold their jobs. They dwell in 
the valleys and never climb to the mountain tops to 
take a wide view of themselves and the possibilities 
around them. 

No salesman ever amounts to much until he is 
thoroughly in earnest; until all his powers are 
brought into play; until he feels that his work counts 
in the grand total of human effort and is indispens¬ 
able to the highest, fullest results. 

Avoid Talking- S>hop. 

Only shallow minds “talk shop.” They are not 
large enough to be able to carry on conversation in- 



Waiting to Be Aroused. 


47 


telligently on subjects which would interest every¬ 
body. They must drag their listeners into their own 
little ruts, and hold them by the sleeve while they fill 
the ears with what interests only themselves and 
their companions in work. 

You never heard a really cultured, tactful man or 
woman “talk shop” in society or anywhere else out¬ 
side of his or her office or place of business. 

If you wish to make yourself agreeable to other 
people, do not make your business or your occupation, 
whatever it may be, a subject of conversation with 
those whom it cannot possibly interest. Read, think, 
observe, visit picture galleries and museums, and 
learn to talk about things which other people w T ill 
enjoy. You will be surprised to find how much more 
popular it will make you and how much it will add 
to the joy and beauty of your life.— Success. 


^ ^ ^ 

Don’t Be Afraid to Work. 

^ n 


/|f\NE thing that keeps young men down is their fear 
VJ7 of work. They aim to find genteel occupations, 
so that they can dress well and not soil their clothes. 
They handle things with the tips of their fingers. 
They do not like to get their shoulders under the 
wheel, and they prefer to give orders to others or 
to figure as masters, and let some one else do the 
drudgery. There is no doubt that indolence and 
laziness are the chief obstacles to success. A clerk 
in a store who is too proud to sweep up and build a 
fire in the stove will never make a success as a com¬ 
mercial traveler. 

When we see a boy, who has just secured a posi¬ 
tion, take hold of everything with both hands and 
“jump right into his work,” as if he meant to succeed, 
we have confidence that he will prosper. But, if he 
stands around and asks questions when told to do 
anything; if he tells you that this or that belongs to 
some other boy to do, for it is not his work; if he does 
not try to carry out his orders in the correct way; if 
he wants a thousand explanations, when asked to run 
an errand, he makes his employer think that he could 
have done the whole thing himself, or that he feels 
like discharging on the spot such a boy, who, he is 
convinced, was not cut out for success. That boy 
will be cursed with mediocrity or will be a failure. 
There is no place in this century for the lazy man. 
He will be pushed to the wall. 



tl ft Ti 

Talk With Young flen. 

^ tfc 


E1TTIHG to the point is one of the most im¬ 
portant qualifications a salesman can pos¬ 
sess ; without it, he is liable to lose many 


chances. 

The man who never comes to the point and the one 
who never knows when to stop, are failures. 

Directness is a cardinal virtue of the man who 
succeeds. He does not go over a thing or around it, 
but to it, through it. If he calls to see you on busi¬ 
ness, he does not spend fifteen minutes in introducing 
his subject; he strikes directly to the heart of it; he 
does not waste your time on preliminaries or non- 
essentials, but proceeds to attend to the business in 
hand, and, as soon as he finishes, stops. 

If there is anything that a successful business or 
professional man dislikes, it is a man who gets into 
his private office by “hook or crook,” and proceeds 
to talk about all sorts of things except the one thing 
for which he called. He inquires after one’s health 
and the health of one’s family and asks various othei 
questions not pertaining to the business, but does not 
arrive at his own errand until he has entirely ex¬ 
hausted the patience of his auditor. 

Many a man has failed to get a hearing on a 
worthy and commendable proposition, merely because 
he has bored the merchant. 

The quality of directness is characteristic of all 
men of great executive ability, because they value 



50 


Talk With Young Men. 


time too much to squander it in useless and meaning¬ 
less conversation; it is an indispensable quality for 
a high-class salesman. 

We know many young men who were graduated 
with honors from college, and have always impressed 
us as youths of great possibilities and great promise; 
yet, somehow, they never focus; they never get any¬ 
where; they are always about to do something; they, 
are usually just going to come to the point, but fall 
a little short of it. Men who are well bred, well edu¬ 
cated and superbly equipped, have often disappointed 
their relatives, their friends and themselves, simply 
because they lacked directness, or the faculty of focus¬ 
ing their ability upon one point until they burned a 
hole in it. They have not learned the Napoleonic 
art of mastering their forces. 

A thimbleful of powder, packed behind a ball in 
cartridge and fired from a rifle, may penetrate iron 
or steel and perform great execution; but a wagonful 
of powder without confinement would hardly stir 
a feather twenty feet from it. Indirect people flash 
their powder in the pan and never fire the charge or 
start the ball. 

Cultivate, then, this great secret of focusing effort, 
coming to the point, and striking at the heart of the 
subject; for therein lies a great secret of success.— 
Editor of Success. 


How to be a First=CIass 
* Salesman. ^ ^ ^ 


S T has often been remarked that to be a first-class 
salesman, a man ought to be a good judge of 
human nature. He should he able, by looking 
at a man and hearing him speak, to judge of his 
character and, above all, to comprehend quickly his 
peculiarities. Every man has certain little preju¬ 
dices, certain things that he does not like and will, 
have none of, certain things that he likes to talk about 
and certain things that annoy him. To get on the 
right side of a man, it is necessary, as soon as possi¬ 
ble, to discover the trend of these little peculiarities 
and to avoid running contrary to them. Find out 
where sharp comers are located and keep from hump¬ 
ing against them. How one can acquire this insight 
into human nature is hard to say. Possibly it is, as 
some claim, impossible for one not bom with the 
proper intuition to acquire it. It is said that some 
men are horn salesmen and that they can tell, at a 
glance, just how to approach a man. While that may 
be true, it is an unquestionable fact that by close 
observation of human nature and by studying the men 
with whom you come in contact, much may be 
learned. Some men who were certainly not bom 
first-class salesmen, but were only just fair enough 
to hold a position, by diligence and close attention to 
business, have made for themselves reputations as 
being among the very best. Whether there is any¬ 
thing in this of human nature or not, it will pay the 



52 


How to Be a First Class Salesman. 


young man just starting out as a salesman to train 
himself to be a close observer. 

Did you ever take note how widely apart are the 
methods employed by different salesmen ? One sales¬ 
man, in trying to convince a customer that he should 
patronize him, seems to think that it is necessary to 
convince him that all other articles of a similar kind 
are a fraud and delusion and that the only genuine 
is the one which he happens to be handling. The 
other simply points out the good qualities of his own 
article and leaves the prospective customer to draw 
his own conclusion. One man strives to succeed in 
making a sale by tearing down the reputation of 
another’s goods; the other makes a sale on the 
strength of the excellence of what he has for sale. 
It is entirely unnecessary to point out which is the 
better of the two methods, as it is too obvious. The 
man who attempts to prove that other merchants 
are handling inferior goods is more apt to disgust 
the customer and to make him suspicious of all 
articles of the class, than anything else. While not 
doing himself any good, he is working a positive in¬ 
jury to the business in general. Every customer likes 
to see a man stand up for his own goods, but no one 
likes to see a man stand up for his own by attempting 
to tear down others. Be content to point out the good 
qualities of your own goods and let the buyers do the 
thinking about what others may have. Many times 
a good word spoken for a rival line of goods is a help, 
as it tends to convince the customer of your own 
truthfulness and fairness .—Omaha Trade Exhibit . 



« t t 

How to Sell Specialties. 

« “R ^ 


Y the word specialties is meant such articles 
as computing scales, cash registers, sewing 
machines, jewelry assortments, and all other 
goods not listed as general merchandise. 

As a rule, it requires high-class ability to sell mer¬ 
chants certain things apart from their regular line of 
goods. If a merchant is retailing five hundred 
pounds of coffee a week and is running short, the 
coffee salesman can get an order as easy as falling off 
a log; but suppose you are selling some article that 
is not so commonly sold, something the merchant 
has never dealt in before. 

Slewing machines have, of late years, become arti¬ 
cles of merchandise, and a great many general stores 
carry them in stock. 

The writer, two years ago, spent some time and 
thought on an article, entitled “How to Sell Sewing 
Machines to Merchants”; and as the same modus 
operandi will apply, with a little variation, to the 
sale of most specialties, we will reproduce it here. 


How to Sell Sewing Machines to Merchants. 


Every man who has retailed sewing machines 
sucessfully is apt to think that he could make a suc¬ 
cess wholesaling. The successful drummer (the com¬ 
mercial angel) is apt to think the same; hut he is 
likely to he mistaken. He may spend a few days at 



54 


How to Sell Specialties. 

the office or factory and receive elaborate instructions, 
or go out with an old, successful traveler for a week, 
but when he strikes out alone and begins to tackle 
the towns, going from one to another, without getting 
an order, he begins to realize the need of some tangi¬ 
ble, sensible printed instructions, that can be read 
and re-read and pondered over; something that will 
enable him to press ahead with renewed energy and 
determination. To supply such a need, the following 
instructions are respectfully submitted by one who 
has wholesaled sewing machines, and having learned 
how by hard thinking and successful experimenting, 
is willing to give this modus operandi for the benefit 
of beginners. Each salesman, however, sells goods 
a little differently from every other salesman, hence 
you must con over what is said and find a way and 
a method of your own; in other words, read between 
the lines, and try to improve, on the old methods, as 
the ever-changing conditions of trade require. To be 
a successful salesman, it is necessary to possess the 
qualities of integrity, energy, dignity, intelligence 
and perseverance. Concentration of motive is an 
essential attribute in the successful salesman. To be 
effective, you must be a good judge of human nature, 
and must concentrate your efforts. Never attempt 
to carry a “side line.” Never try to copy the style 
and manners of others; be true to your own identity. 

Whom to Sell to. 

Sewing machines go with furniture nicely, and 
while dry goods and general stores can handle them 
successfully, the furniture merchant is first choice, 
especially if he sells furniture on installments. Hard¬ 
ware stores would seem to be the next best place, but 
you must be governed largely by circumstances, 




55 


How to Sell Specialties. 

rating, etc. As a rule, sell to the merchant best able 
to pay bis bills. In the smaller towns, where two or 
three well-to-do merchants are competing for busi¬ 
ness, you should select the best, and if you fail, try 
second, third, etc. Sometimes you will fail to sell 
to any of the well-to-do merchants, hut will have to 
look among the smaller ones, or perhaps you may find 
a live, wide-awake man, who is not engaged in any 
business and is able to invest a few hundred dollars 
in sewing machines and to sell from a wagon. As a 
rule, such a man will sell more sewing machines than 
half a dozen merchants, but you should be very care¬ 
ful in selling to a man of small means. It is often 
easy to sell to such people, but exceedingly difficult 
to collect. 

Getting a Hearing. 

To the experienced salesman, getting a hearing 
is very apt to be a trying ordeal, and your success will 
depend largely upon vour diplomacy along this line. 
On entering a town, look the place over carefully, 
pick out your prospective customers by consultingyour 
mercantile rating book, or if not supplied with one of 
these reference books, get* someone who is familiar 
with the town to give you the names of a few of the 
most popular and energetic merchants in the place. 
Having selected your man, go to his store. Always 
ask for the proprietor or the buyer and, if possible, 
get him in an out-of-the-way place, introduce your¬ 
self by name, stating that you are from —*—- 

(name the town where your factory or distributing 
office is located), but do not say anything about sew¬ 
ing machines yet, Keep up the thread of conversa¬ 
tion while getting the bearings as to the calibre of the 
man. Explain that you have called to talk over a 
business proposition; that you represent reliable 



56 


How to Sell Specialties. 


people who make sewing machines; that the sewing 
machine business is now undergoing a change, prices 
having been reduced, etc., etc., and old methods of 
selling by canvassing agents is getting to be a thing 
of the past; that there is now being opened up a 
profitable field for the general merchant, and that 
sewing machines are fast becoming articles of mer¬ 
chandise; that the trade, which amounts to hundreds 
of thousands of dollars each year, will soon be en¬ 
tirely in the hands of the better class of merchants; 
and that your company proposes to give exclusive 
control of the sale of their machines to one person 
in each town. Keep talking. Do not let the mer¬ 
chant get in a * word edgeways, for he is probably 
waiting to say, “Well, sir, T do not want to bother 
with sewing machines. They are out of my line al¬ 
together, and you could not induce me to buy, if that 
is your object.” If you let him work in some such 
clincher as this on you, your chances for an order 
will be discounted 100%. You must sav something 
to get him interested. You must put in your fine 
work just here. Defer to some prominent merchant 
who is handling sewing machines; ask if he has any 
idea how many people marry in his county during the 
year; explain that every man who marries must buy 
a sewing machine sooner or later; that hundreds of 
thousands of old machines, like old wagons, buggies, 
old clothes, etc., are being replaced with new ones; 
finally come around to the point and explain that you 
are aware that other comoanies have out men trving 
to sell their machines, and that perhaps some of them 
have been to this town, but that you feel sure that 
he would prefer to represent your company. Have 
your price list and other blanks and pencil ready, 
usually suggest such machines as you think will suit, 
and go ahead filling out the order. Mention ten or 


How to Sell Specialties. 


57 


twelve machines of the higher grades, and two or 
three cheaper ones. Tf yon have succeeded in getting 
your prospective customer’s mind concentrated 
on sewing machines, he will probably suggest 
that if he was going to buy he would not want so 
many to start with. Stich a suggestion would indi¬ 
cate that you have mastered the situation, and you 
should press right ahead, promptly offering to send 
just such styles, etc., as he thought would be most 
salable. Jot them down on your order blank and 
say, “Now, I tell you what I will do. I will just 
make two copies of the order and leave one with you, 
so you can refer to it and see just what you will 
have coming. Just sign this one, please, and I will 
send it to the company,” at the same time handing 
him the pencil and order; and he will generally sign 
it without a word. You then fold it up and slip it into 
your pocket, keeping up the conversation all the 
while. Having secured the order, you should not 
detain your customer any longer, unless he appears 
to he at leisure, in which case you might engage him 
in some agreeable conversation for a very short while. 
Never promise'to come back and stay a week and help 
retail the machines or to canvass the town, to take 
back machines or to transfer them to another dealer, 
if found to he unsalable. This kind of thing makes 
the company or general manager tired, when a long 
letter comes from the dealer, claiming that the con¬ 
tract had uot been complied with, and offering to ship 
machines back. Never put yourself in a position to 
be “bluffed” by stepping into a store and throwing 
down your business card, stating that you represent 
the best-on-earth sewing machine company and that 
you want to sell them a hill, etc., etc. Never men¬ 
tion what you are selling until you have gained a 
hearing or have met a prospective customer at an 


58 


How fo Sell Specialties. 


appointed time. Business cards are not of much 
value, and a very few will go a long way with a high- 
class salesman. Do not expect too much; it takes 
time and hard study to master any line on the road. 
Always endeavor to get a prospective customer off 
to himself. A third party will generally prevent 
you from getting an order, unless it is someone in¬ 
terested and favorably disposed toward the machine. 
Never enter the store with the scent of whiskey about 
your person. Never gamble. Do not smoke ciga¬ 
rettes. Do not allow yourself to become discouraged. 
Of course, you must give considerable attention to 
your regular dealers, keeping in touch with them. 
Call to see them as often as convenient, overlooking 
their stock of machines to see that they are all in 
perfect order and that the treadles and band-wheels 
are properly adjusted. 

Do not ask if they are right, but examine them 
yourself. Tt does not require much salesmanship to 
sell a bill to a dealer who is already interested in 
the business and who really needs to replenish his 
stock. New trade is what you want to hustle for. 

Finally, T would suggest that you keep a copy of 
these instructions and read them over every time you 
leave a town without establishing an agency. Wear 
good clothes, go to bed early, and write to your wife 
or best girl three times a week. 


^ ^ 

A Recipe for Success. 

^ ^ ^ 


Nine Rules Which the Famous Lord Russell 
Prepared for the Guidance of His Son. 


J S there any recipe for success ? Men have been 
asking each other for centuries, and to-day the 
question is being put more eagerly than it has 
ever been put before. 

Plainly, the only answer obtainable is such as may 
be vouchsafed by men themselves. Perhaps the 
wisest thing to be done, if you are somewhat vaguely 
starting out on a career and do not know how to make 
the most of it, is to study some such set of rules as 
those which the famous Lord Russell wrote down 
for the guidance of his son, a younger member of the 
bar: 

1. Begin each day’s work with a memo, of what 
is to be done, in order of urgency. 

2. Do one thing only at a time. 

3. In any business interviews, note in your diary 
or in your entries the substance of what takes place, 
for corroboration in any future difficulty. 

4. Be scrupulously exact, down to the smallest 
item, in money matters, in your account of them. 

5. Arrange any case, whether for brief or for your 
own judgment, in the order of time. 

6. Be careful to keep your papers in neat and 
orderly fashion. 

7. There is no need to confess ignorance; but 



60 


The Crown of Lifells Character. 


never be above asking for advice from those compe¬ 
tent to give it, in any matter of doubt, and never 
affect to understand when you do not understand thor¬ 
oughly. 

8. Get to the bottom of any affair intrusted to 
you, even the simplest, and do each piece of work 
as if you were a tradesman turning out a best sample 
of his manufacture, by which he wishes to be judged. 

9. Do not be content with being merely an expert 
master of form and detail, but strive to be a salesman. 

10. Always be straightforward and sincere.— 
Success. 

xt xt xt 


THE GROWN OF LIFE IS CHARACTER, 

S HE reputation of a borrower for integrity 
and reliability has more to do with giving 
credit than his mere ability to pay. It is 
interesting and instructive to note the difference in 
the ability of young commercial travelers, starting 
on their careers, to gain confidence. 

Of two young men who have had equal advan¬ 
tages of opportunity and education; who apparently 
possess equal business ability; and who start out in 
the same city under practically similar conditions, 
one will rapidly gain a reputation with jobbing- 
houses, while the other can get no foothold whatever. 
People seem to be afraid to trust him, not because he 
is vicious or dissipated, but because they are not 
certain of his integrity. They do not feel that he can 
be depended upon under all circumstances. Unlike 
the other young man, he has not cultivated the one 
thing upon which all credit is based, a character above 
suspicion, a reputation without reproach .—Editor 
of Success. 


Personality as Capital. 

^ Tt ^ 


A PLEASING personality is of untold value. 
It is a perpetual delight and inspiration to 
everybody who conies in contact with it Such 
a personality is capital. Keep yourself well dressed 
and free from the smell of whiskey. 

Very few people ever come to your home or see 
your stocks and bonds and lands, or know anything 
of your interest in steamship-lines or in corpora¬ 
tions ; but your personality you carry with you every¬ 
where. It is your letter of credit. You stand or fall 
by it. You must cultivate a pleasing personality, to 
succeed as a salesman. 

What indescribable wealth is packed into some 
fine, beautiful personalities we meet now and then! 

How the character-millionaire dwarfs the mere 
money-millionaire! 

How poor and despicable does a man who has 
gained his wealth in a questionable way appear be¬ 
fore a superb personality, even without money- 
wealth ! The millionaire of brains, of self-culture, 
puts to shame the man who has dwarfed and cramp¬ 
ed his soul for his money-millions. 

What a boon it is, when you meet a friend on the 
street, for a few moments, to be able to fling out the 
wealth of a rich manhood or womanhood into his 
consciousness and to make him feel that you have 
wealth greatly superior to that of mere money! 
Many a man has gone down to failure because he 



62 


Personality as Capital. 


lacked ability to arrive quickly and effectively at a 
conclusion. While be was deliberating and balanc¬ 
ing and “beating about the bush,” the opportunity 
to save himself passed and the crisis ruined him. 
You must practice forming conclusions quickly and 
correctly. 

It does not matter how much ability, education, 
influence or cleverness you may have; if you lack 
the art of coming to the point quickly and decisively, 
of focusing yourself immediately, you can never be 
very successful as a salesman .—Success Magazine. 


False Economy ^ ^ ^ ^ 
* ^ ^ Destroys Vitality. 


MB’ HAT would you think of an engineer who^ 
would try to economize in lubricating oil at the 
expense of his machinery or engine ? You would 
consider him very foolish, would you not? Yet 
many of us do much more foolish things. We do 
not economize in that which would injure the inani¬ 
mate machinery, but do in cheerfulness, recreation, 
healthful amusement—all that will lubricate life’s 
machinery and make it last longer. 

We economize on our friendships by neglecting 
them; we economize in our social life, pleading with 
ourselves that we cannot spare the time for visiting 
and receiving visits, until we are obliged to take long, 
enforced rests from the arduous duties of our busi¬ 
ness or profession, because the machinery of our 
bodies, so delicately and wonderfully made, has be¬ 
come worn, and is in danger of snapping at some 
vital point. 

All this strain and pressure might be avoided if 
we would only take our fun each day as we go along, 
if we would only lubricate our machinery by taking 
a few minutes, now and then, to see the humorous 
side of life, to have a little chat with a friend, or to 
indulge in some innocent game, which would relax 
the too rigid muscles about the mouth in a health¬ 
giving laugh.— Success . 



^ ^ ^ 

T. P. A. NEWS LETTER. 

t t t 




HE Arkansas Democrat gives this excellent 
pen-portrait of the average Commercial 
Traveler: 


“The drummer has been slandered in regard to his 
social connections. True, there may be a few repre¬ 
sentatives of the profession who are inclined to play 
a fast game, but the great majority have as high a 
regard for moral precepts as any other class of men 
in the world. Ignorant persons sometimes mistake 
a frank, genial manner for a disposition to be “fresh. ” 
The average drummer is a generous-hearted, wide¬ 
awake, progressive fellow. He stops at hotels where 
the chief interest of landlords and servants is the 
amoijnt he pays for his fare, and deals with men who 
often greet him with scant courtesy. He rides on 
freight trains, bunks on rough seats, with his over¬ 
coat for a pillow, and drops off at small stations in 
the darkness of the night, to accept, with a cheerful 
air, such lodging and fare as the town may afford. 
Ho matter how dearly he may love the comforts 
of home or how he longs for the companionship of a 
real friend, his feelings must be put aside for the 
stern realities of his profession, and through it all, 
he must look happy and cheerful. He must maintain 
an air that betokens success and contentment. 

It is no wonder that, in his loneliness, he some¬ 
times feels prone to ignore conventionalities and to 
seek social acquaintances. 



« « « 

Be Abreast of the Times. 

tut 


/7T HERE, never was another time when well 

Vr trained, up-to-date young salesmen were in 
so great demand as to-day. The time is 
past when mere tact or sagacity will qualify a man 
to be a first-rate salesman. The successful salesman 
of to-day must have a good knowledge of geography, 
of foreign customs and of trade conditions, as well 
as a dozen other business details. The times demand 
men of bright, liberal, energetic minds, and the man 
who insists on doing business in the old-fashioned, 
humdrum way is as much out of place as the man 
who insists on traveling with an ox team instead of 
by railway. 

The salesman of to-day must use more discretion 
than was necessary thirty years ago and must weigh 
statements more carefully than any judge or juror. 

Only the shrewdest sagacity, the most far reaching 
penetration and the soundest judgment will enable 
a salesman to discriminate between good and bad 
customers. 

Men who would succeed and attain eminence in 
their calling must discard the old-fashioned ideas 
of getting on in the world and must be abreast of the 
times. A new epoch has been inaugurated, and all 
profitable businesses are being conducted on new and 
modern principles. Men say, on every side, that 
the new is crowding aside the old, and improvement 
is the order of the day. 



66 


Don’t Be Afraid. 


New salesmen are taking the place of old soaks 
who used to sell goods one day and get drunk the 
next. Clean, sober men of character are coming 
more and more in demand.— Success. 

^ ^ H 

DON'T BE AFRAID— 

When you get a few hard knocks, 

And things look dark, and you are half 
Battled and almost appalled, 

Don’t he afraid— 

Just repeat the following beautiful poem by 
William Ernest Henley: 

“Out of the night that covers me, 

Black as the pit, from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be 
For my unconquerable soul. 

“In the fell clutch of circumstance, 

I have not winced, nor cried aloud; 

Under the bludgeonings of chance, 

My head i3 bloody, but unbowed. 

“Beyond this place of wrath and tears, 

Looms but the horror of the shade, 

And yet the menace of the years 
Finds and shall find me unafraid. 

“It matters not how straight the gate, 

IIow charged with punishments the scroll, 

I am the master of my fate, 

I am the captain of my soul/' 


These Things Influence 
^ ^ ^ ^ An Employer. 


ANAGERS of large 


institutions and business 


houses tell us that they reject a great many 
applications from boys and young men, be¬ 
cause of badly spelled and carelessly written letters. 
The handwriting and the literary style of a letter are 
reliable indications of the character of the writer. 
A negligent letter, with careless sentences and in¬ 
accurate expressions, indicates an indifferent mind. 
The structure of the sentences shows the texture of 
the mind which uses them. As a rule, a neatly 
written letter, with well constructed sentences, con¬ 
taining concise and pointed expressions, indicates a 
careful and systematic mind. A loose-jointed letter 
shows carelessness in the choice of words to express 
a thought, and signifies a loosely constructed mind, 
which would be careless in everything. These may 
appear to be small things, but trifles make perfection. 
Tn an application for a position, an employer is in¬ 
fluenced most by the little things. The little rein arks 
dropped, the appearance, the dress, the collar, the 
cuffs and nails and the hair—all of these, which seem 
trifles, have proved stumbling blocks to the advance¬ 
ment of many a youth. A careless expression in 
conversation, the use of slang, a failure to look the 
superintendent or manager in the eye when talking 
with him, forgetfulness in removing one’s hat, hold¬ 
ing a cigarette, even an indication of the use of to¬ 
bacco or the sign of some other bad habit, gruffness, 



68 These Things Influence an Employer. 

lack of politeness, and the hundred other seeming 
trifles, have barred the progress of many a youth. 

Learning to spell correctly, to write a plain, 
straightforward letter, without superfluous words, 
correctly punctuated and in good, terse English, will 
form a very important stepping-stone in the career 
of a youth.— Success. 


^ ^ ^ 


The Hardships of the ^ 

T ^ Traveling Salesman. 


0 


HE commercial traveler’s life is not as pleas¬ 
ant as some people think, and he is often treated 


in a way that would discourage the faint¬ 
hearted man. Discouragements and obstacles afford a 
test by which we can distinguish between the worth¬ 
less and the valuable classes of men. 

The man that chafes and frets at every little dis¬ 
agreeable incident or disappointment shows an inhe¬ 
rent weakness. Some men are always airing their 
grievances. The houses they travel for do not treat 
diem right. Their largest orders are countermanded. 
Some other salesman, with the same line of goods, 
is just ahead of them. Nothing happens just right 
for them. The price of goods goes up and the mer¬ 
chants are not willing to pay the advance. They 
miss connection and fail to reach a good Sunday 
town, and they fret and chafe and w T aste all of this 
reserve force because they have been obliged to stay 
over Sunday at a third-rate hotel. Everything is 
“beastly and rotten.” The food is not cooked to suit 
them. The landlady has a small kid with the colic 
in the next room, and a stray bed bug crawls 
affectionately around during the night. These and 
similar incidents make life a burden to the “dudish 
tenderfoot,” whose mother has kept the flies off him 
all of his life and has economized and denied herself 
to furnish him with pocket change at school. These 
poor fellows are undeveloped salesmen. Some of 



70 


The Hardships of the Traveling Salesman, 


them remain in this undeveloped stage all of their 
lives, but the real native-born salesman soon learns 
to take things as they come. Nothing seems to dis¬ 
turb him. Nothing can overwhelm him. He be¬ 
comes a student of human nature, and gets in touch 
with all classes of business people. He calculates 
beforehand that these discomforts and hardships of 
travel are unavoidable, and makes the best of the 
situation. Like a great general, he is looking ahead, 
figuring on the final results of his campaign. 

If he has fat meat and corn bread for dinner and 
a wet blanket to sleep on, he does not waste time and 
energy fretting about it. Other matters concerning 
the success of his efforts take up all of his thoughts 
and energies. He is out to sell goods, and his perse¬ 
verance and dogged persistence make success as sure 
as fate.— Success. 


n n 

Cheerfulness,-- “Right Within Our- 
f^ f^. Selves” Its Birthplace, ft ft 
ft ft ft 


flt NY day, wet or cold, hot or dry, is pleasant to 
<•» the thoroughly healthy man or woman. We 
have within ourselves the power to make our 
days cheerful or disagreeable. We do not depend 
upon the condition of the sky or atmosphere, for 
when one is perfectly poised, physically and men¬ 
tally, the days go by as a dream of comfort, whether 
they he dark or sunny. Don’t worry if trade is dull. 

Our goal should be health. Mental health is a 
strong element to bring about physical health. If 
the train is late, don’t worry. If the food you eat 
at a second-class hotel, for which you pay a first- 
class price, is poorly cooked and unfit to eat, don’t 
worry. Join the Don’t Worry Club, and study the 
New Thought Philosophy. 

Keep yourself in a pleasant mood. If there is 
any one thing especially needful to the commercial 
traveler, it is freedom from malice, hatred, worry, 
ill humor, the blues and despondent thoughts. 

Make yourself a nest of pleasant thoughts, bright 
fancies, satisfied memories, noble histories, faithful 
sayings, treasure-houses of precious and restful 
thoughts, which misfortune cannot disturb nor pain 
make gloomy nor poverty take away—houses built 
without hands, for your soul to live in .—John 
Buskin. 



Commercial Travelers * 
^ r ^ ^ and the Law. 


By Oyrus H. Smithdeal, of the Richmond, Va., 
Bar. 

Definition. —In law, a commercial traveler is de¬ 
fined as an agent who represents a wholesale house 
(his principal), for the purpose of selling to retail 
merchants, and who travels over the country for that 
purpose. They are legally defined by the courts in 
93 N. C. Rep., 511; 53 American Rep., 469; 4 Lea 
Thm., 93. 

They Do Not Make Delivery of the goods at the 
time, but take orders for future delivery, and sell by 
sample only. 34 Kan. Rep., 434; 50 Mo. Appeals, 
585. 

The term “drummer” is defined as “one who sells 
to retail dealers or others by sample,” in 22 Ameri¬ 
can State Reports, 540. 

Authority of Commercial Travelers. —Their au¬ 
thority is usually confined to soliciting orders for 
goods, but they have implied power to do anything 
necessary to the successful performance of their 
work or whatever is usually done in their line of 
business. 

Authority. —It has been held that a drummer may 
bind his employer by a contract with a man to whom 
he sells a bill, not to sell the same goods to another 
man in the same town. 48 Ark. Rep., 138. 

He may bind his employer by a warranty of the 
goods sold. 41 Iowa, 45. 



Commercial Travelers and the Law- 


73 


Power to Receive Payment for Goods. —Unless 
delivery of the goods is made at the time of the sale, 
the preponderance of authority is that the drummer 
has no right to receive payment for the goods, 
though he may, of course, do so when specially au¬ 
thorized by his employer, and the authority to collect 
may he implied from the conduct of the employer. 
This has been held to be the law in a number of 
cases in the various States. 

He has no right to receive other goods in payment, 
without authority from his house. 

Selling or Otherwise Disposing of Samples. —Eor 
has he any right to dispose of his samples without 
special authority from his employer. 53 American 
Rep., 745. 

Endorsing Check. —A drummer has no right to 
endorse a check payable to his employer, though he 
may have authority to collect. 

When Contract is Complete. —When an order is 
received and accepted, the salesman has no authority 
to cancel it. 

A sale or contract is not complete until the order 
is read and accepted by the house. 

In this connection is given the decision in the case 
of McKindley and Others vs. Denham, in the Su¬ 
preme Court of Wisconsin, as covering several points 
of interest to the commercial traveler. 

1. An agent who merely solicits orders for goods, 
sending them to his principal to be filled, has no im¬ 
plied authority to receive payment for the goods 
sent by the principal to fill such orders. 

2. An order solicited by and given to a salesman 
does not constitute a sale, either absolute or condi¬ 
tional, of the goods ordered, but is a mere proposal, 
to be accepted or not, as the principal sees fit. 

3. The power of a salesman to make contracts for 


74 


Commercial Travelers and the Law. 


his principal does not necessarily include the power 
to collect money thereon. 

4. The words “agent not authorized to collect” 
stamped in large, legible print upon the face of a 
bill sent to the purchaser of goods, will he presumed 
to have been observed by such purchaser, and, 
whether he saw them or not, were a notice to him not 
to pay an agent. 

Hotel Bill. —In the absence of an express agree¬ 
ment, the principal is not responsible for the hotel 
bills of his agent or drummer, where the hotel keeper 
allows the agent to run up a bill without notice to 
the principal, and it is proven to be general custom 
for such agents to pay their hotel bills in cash. 

A hotel keeper has a lien upon the goods of the 
principal held by the agent as a guest, unless he 
knew that they were not the property of the guest 
99 H. O., 523 ; 61 Vermont, 534. 

Right of Drummer to Cancel His Contract .—A 
right by a broker to make sale of property for another 
does not include the right of such broker to rescind 
the same, without the knowledge or consent of his 
principal, unless the commercial usage was such at 
the place where the sale was made. 

Refusal to Accept Goods Shipped on’Salesmans 
Order. —If the purchaser of goods fails to take them 
and pay the agreed price within a reasonable time, 
the shipper or his agent may sell them, after giving 
notice to the vendee, and look to him for the deficiency 
as damages for breach of the contract Saladin vs. 
Mitchell, 45 Ill., 19. 

Liability of Railroad Company for Loss of Bag¬ 
gage. —The usual liability of a Railroad Company 
for the loss of personal baggage does not count the 
full value of the baggage of a drummer, although 
he may have paid for the overweight, unless the Rail- 


Commercial Travelers and the Law- 75 

road Company is notified of the character of the 
baggage. 

This law is well illustrated in the following case, 
in 148 United States Reports, page 62i7: 

In this case a traveling salesman for a jewelry 
firm bought a passenger ticket for passage on a rail¬ 
road, and presented a trunk to be checked to the 
place of destination, without informing the agent of 
.the company that the trunk contained jewelry, which 
it did. 

1st. There was no evidence from which it could be 
fairly said that the agent had reason to believe that 
the trunk contained jewelry. 

2nd. The agent was not required to inquire as to 
the contents of the trunk so presented as personal 
baggage. 

3rd. The company was not liable for the full value 
of the contents of the trunk. 

SlAL.ES. 

Definition .—A sale is the transfer of property 
from one man to another in consideration of a price 
in money, and differs from an exchange or barter, 
in which payment is made with some other kind 
of goods. 

A sale may be made either verbally or in writing. 
A sale of personal property in writing or by deed 
is very unusual. When such is made, it is called a 
bill of sale. In case of real estate, it is necessary for 
it to be in writing. 

Failure of The Buyer to Pay Purchase Price 
after contract and delivery of goods, does not entitle 
the seller to rescind the contract, but the seller must 
sue to recover the price in money. However, the 
goods may be sold and delivered on condition, and on 
breach of the condition, the goods may be recovered. 


76 


Commercial Travelers and the Law. 


Duties of Sellers Generally. —They must deliver 
the goods at the time and in the manner stipulated 
for in the contract, and comply strictly with any 
warranty, expressed or implied. 

Delivery of Goods. —The seller must deliver the 
goods as soon as the buyer has complied with all con¬ 
ditions precedent. In case the goods are stipulated 
to be shipped within a reasonable time, what is a 
reasonable time depends upon the circumstances in 
each case. 

The bill of lading should, also, be sent within a 
reasonable time. 

Warranty .—Any affirmation made at the time of 
sale of goods is a warranty, if it appear to the buyer 
to be so intended. But a warranty after a sale is 
void, because without consideration. 

However, in case of written contract of sale, an 
oral allegation is no warranty, because the writing 
is the only evidence of the contract. 

Where Goods are Sold by Description Only, the 
allegations do not amount to a warranty, but are 
merely representations, in which, though they be 
false, if they be made with an honest belief that they 
are true, no action lies; but otherwise, if the seller 
knew they were false. When goods are sold by sam¬ 
ple, there is an implied warranty that the goods are 
like the sample. 

Duties of Buyers. —The duty of the buyer is to 
accept the goods and pay for them. If the seller has 
performed his part and the buyer refuse to accept 
the goods, the price of the goods may be recovered 
by suit, notwithstanding the refusal to accept How¬ 
ever, if the goods are to be delivered at a particular 
place, they must be tendered at that place. If the 
goods are to be shipped, the seller must ship them so 
the carrier will be responsible for loss or damage. 


Commercial Travelers and the Law. 


77 


When goods are sold by samples, they must be like 
the sample, and the buyer has the right to see and 
compare them with the sample. If the seller has 
been guilty of fraud, then it is sufficient for the 
purchaser to refuse to accept the goods, but he must 
repudiate the contract as soon as he discovers the 
fraud. In case the goods are sold without stipulation 
as to price, the seller may recover what they are fairly 
worth. The illegality of a contract excuses both 
parties from its performance. 

Contracts on Sundays are void. 

Stoppage in Transitu. —This is rather a measure 
of prevention than of cure. Sometimes a wholesale 
merchant ships goods to a retail merchant on credit, 
and the latter becomes bankrupt before the goods 
reach him. In this case, the shipper has the right 
in law to stop the goods in passage and regain pos¬ 
session of them. Though part of the price has been 
paid, it will not prevent the stoppage if the insol¬ 
vency occur before the remainder has been paid. 

How Long the Bight Continues. —The right exists 
while the goods are in process of transmission, and 
until they are in the actual, or constructive posses¬ 
sion of the consignee. With the exception of the 
right of the stoppage in transitu, delivery of goods 
to the transportation company is construed as a de¬ 
livery to the consignee. 

Statute of Frauds. —The original of this statute 
was passed in England in the reign of Charles II., 
and, as its name indicates, its object was the pre¬ 
vention of frauds and perjuries in the enforcement 
of contracts depending alone for their evidence upon 
the unassisted memory of the witnesses. It exists 
in all the States of the United States in slightly 
varied forms, but the principle is everywhere the 
same. 


78 


Commercial Travelers and the Law. 


In general, the provisions are that no action shall 
be brought in any of the following cases: 

First, To charge any person upon or by reason of 
a representation or assurance concerning the char¬ 
acter, conduct, credit, ability, trade, or dealings of 
another, to the intent or purpose that such other may 
obtain thereby, credit, money, or goods; or, 

Second, To charge any person upon a promise 
made, after full age, to pay a debt contracted during 
infancy; or, 

Third, To charge a personal representative upon 
a promise to answer any debt or damages out of his 
own estate; or, 

Fourth, To charge any person upon a promise to 
answer for the debt, default, or misdoings of another; 
or > 

Fifth, Upon any agreement made upon considera¬ 
tion of marriage; or, 

Sixth, Upon any contract for the sale of real estate, 
or for the lease thereof for more than a year; or, 

Seventh, Upon any agreement that is not to be 
performed within a year; 

Unless the promise, contract, agreement, repre* 
sentation, assurance, or ratification, or some memo¬ 
randum or note thereof, be in writing and signed by 
the party to be charged thereby, or his agent; but 
the consideration need not be set forth or expressed 
in the writing, and it may be proved, where a con¬ 
sideration is necessary, by other evidence. 




-ft tfc 

Rights of Traveling Salesmen Under 
^ the Interstate Commerce Law. ^ 
^ ^ 


Right to solicit orders in one State for goods which 
are in another Slate. —A State law attempting to 
prohibit the solicitation within the State of orders 
for goods which are in another State, is in violation 
of the Interstate Commerce Laws, and, even if their 
sale is prohibited by exercise of the police power, 
is void. Ex Parte Loeb, 72 Federal Reports, 657. 

Right to Transport Goods from one State to 
Another. —A State statute prohibiting the transpor¬ 
tation of goods and merchandise from one State to 
another is unconstitutional, because in violation of 
the Interstate Commerce Laws. 28 Federal Ke- 
porter, 592. 

Not within the Interstate Commerce Act. —Where 
agents of a corporation take its manufactured goods 
into another State and distribute them about the 
country direct to purchasers in small quantities from 
a central storehouse, it is not selling by sample, and 
is not interstate commerce. 166 United States, 718. 

Right to sell to Consumers or Retail Dealers the 
S ame ,—The right to sell articles imported from 
another State, if a proper article of interstate com¬ 
merce, does not depend upon whether the article is 
suitable for retail trade or not; the right is the same 
whether sold to retail dealers or consumers direct 
171 United States, 1. 

Articles in Original Packages. —A proper article 
of interstate commerce may be imported into a State 



80 Rights of Traveling Salesmen under the I. Com. Law 


and sold in the original package not only in person, 
but through an agent having stores in the State. 
171 United States, 1. 

Requiring Salesman to file Affidavit and Bond with 
Secretary of State. —A State statute is unconstitu¬ 
tional and therefore void, which requires a salesman 
of nursery stock, grown in another State, to present 
each purchaser a certificate that he has filed affidavit 
and bond with the Secretary of State. 63 Federal 
Rep., 695. 

State Law Requiring License Void. —A State law, 
as applied to persons out of the State and selling by 
sample within it, and requiring any one, if he is not 
the maker or manfacturer, to pay a license propor¬ 
tioned to the amount of his stock in trade, whether 
situated in the State or not, is void, because an inter¬ 
ference with interstate commerce. 12 Federal Re¬ 
porter, 538. 

State Law Discriminating against Goods from 
Another State Void. —A Sitato license law designed 
to discriminate against merchants in other States or 
against goods from other States, in favor of resident 
merchants or goods kept in the State, and even if not 
so designed, if this is its practical effect, is a burden 
upon interstate commerce and is null and void. 12 
Federal Reporter, 538. 

License Tax Imposed by City Ordinance Void .— 
Persons who are not the manufacturers or licensed 
merchants taking orders for goods, books, paintings, 
wares or merchandise, cannot be compelled by a city 
ordinance to pay license tax for soliciting or taking 
such orders, because such ordinance would not be 
a mere police regulation inconveniencing those en¬ 
gaged in interstate commerce, but would be a direct 
burden upon such commerce. 153 United States, 
289. 


Rights of Traveling Salesmen under the I. Gom. Law. 81 

To same effect is re Trusman, 95 Federal Reports, 

6J>8. r 

Single Sale of Samples does not Alter the Charac¬ 
ter of One Selling by Sample .—A single sale, by an 
agent, of bis samples does not alter the character of 
his occupation of selling by sample, except to deprive 
him of the protection of the Constitution giving 
power to Congress to regulate commerce between the 
States. This was held in a case where agents were 
given samples and sent into a State by non-residents 
of that State, the agents taking orders and the goods 
being shipped to them for delivery. 47 Federal Re¬ 
ports, 539. 

A State Laiv Requiring Annual Occupation Tax 
from Drummers Void .—Persons soliciting orders 
from the general public for goods, or commercial 
travelers, cannot be required by a city ordinance to 
pay an annual occupation tax, and a provision in 
such ordinance that a failure on the part of such per¬ 
son to show a receipt for such tax from the proper 
officer shall be a misdemeanor, is also null and void. 
35 Federal Reports, 95. 

City Ordinance Requiring License Tax Void .— 
Persons soliciting orders from the general public for 
books and other things, and canvassing from house 
to house for that purpose, cannot be required by city 
ordinance to pay license tax. 43 Federal Reports, 
913; also, 48 Federal Reports, 164. 

Rights as Guests at Hotels. 

Loss of Baggage .—Where baggage checks are given 
to the hotel proprietor, and by him delivered to an 
expressman, and the baggage is lost, the proprietor 
is responsible for the loss. 69 Ill. Appeals, 618. 

Lien of Hotel Keeper on Baggage of Guest .—A 
specific lien given to the hotel keeper by statute upon 


82 Rights of Traveling Salesmen under the I. Com. Law. 

all property or baggage deposited with him by the 
guest, for the amount of charges against the guest, 
does not give a lien, for the board of a traveling man, 
or drummer, on samples of the drummer in trunks be¬ 
longing to his employer, when the proprietor knew 
they did belong to his employer. 443 S. W. Rep. 
(Texas), 64. 

Hotel Keeper Liable for Loss of Goods of Guest .— 
Unless caused by the neglect or default of the guest, 
by the act of God or of the common enemy, the pro¬ 
prietor is liable for the loss of the goods of his guest. 
61 1ST. Y. S., 659. 

Loss of Goods in Restaurants.-^ When restaurant 
keepers have a safe place for the keeping of hats, 
overcoats, etc., of guests, and the guests fail to deposit 
such articles with him, and put them on a peg on 
the wall or some other place, the proprietor is not 
liable for their loss. 61 hi. Y. Su, 840. 

Hotels and Guest-Bailees. —Where a guest of a 
hotel leaves the hotel, leaving his baggage, which the 
hotel company stores, the hotel company becomes a 
bailee of the baggage, and is liable for its loss. 13 
Qol. App., 59. 

Notice to Leave Valuables at the Hotel Office .— 
A notice posted in the room of a hotel directing the 
guests to leave their valuables at the office, does not 
apply to mineral specimens, or property of like 
character, in the trunk of the guest. 

Hotel Proprietor Must Exercise Reasonable 
Care. —A hotel keeper must exercise proper and 
reasonable care for the safety of the person and prop¬ 
erty of his guest, and he cannot delegate this duty to 
another so as to release him from the responsibility 
for the injury of such person or property. 36 N. Y. 
S., 476. 


Rights of Traveling Salesmen nnder the I, Com. Law. 83 


liability for Baggage Not Limited to Baggage 
Necessary for Travel. —The liability for loss of bag¬ 
gage is not limited to such as may be carried as a 
convenience of travel, but extends to merchandise 
carried by the guest when he is received at the hotel. 
75 Ill. App., 102. 

Hotel Keeper Cannot Claim Lien on Property of 
Third Parties in Possession of Guest. —-A State law 
giving a lien to hotel keepers upon property of third 
persons in possession of guests, is unconstitutional, 
because it deprives such third parties of their prop¬ 
erty without due process of law. 76 K W. Rep., 
930. 

Rights of Passengers. 

Tickets. —Unreasonable conditions contained in 
tickets are of no effect. 53 S. W. Rep., 872. 

Mileage Tickets. —Where one railroad company 
authorizes another company to issue mileage tickets 
over its road, it makes such company its agent and 
cannot repudiate the contract made with such agent 
by a passenger who, in good faith, buys the ticket, 
on account of a later disagreement between the two 
companies. 

Purchaser signing his name to conditions in mile¬ 
age book makes him subject to such conditions. 54 
1ST. Y., 201. 

However, a railroad company cannot prescribe 
condition that if ticket be presented by other than 
the purchaser, it be taken up, when required by law 
to issue one thousand mile tickets. 54 U. Y. S., 
201 . 

Railroad Company Liable for Carrying Passenger 
by Station. —If a railroad negligently carry a pas¬ 
senger by the station at which he is to stop, it is liable 
for any damage resulting. 


# 


84 Rights of Traveling Salesmen under the I. Com. Law, 

Must Stop at Flag Stations on Signal. —A railroad 
company is bound to stop its passenger trains at flag 
stations on signal. 48 S. W. Rep., 1105. 

Care and Shill required of Railroad Companies .— 
Railroad companies must exercise all tbe care that 
human skill and foresight suggest for the security 
and safety of their passengers. 

Must Protect Their Passengers from Injury by 
Third Person. —Railroad companies must protect 
their passengers from injury hy third persons, while 
such passengers are in its trains, depots, and passage¬ 
ways. 42 Atlantic Rep., 486. 

Baggage. —A passenger has a right to take into a 
passenger car with him personal baggage appropriate 
to his journey and its objects. 41 At. Rep., 367. 

A rule that a passenger must present ticket be¬ 
fore his baggage is received into the baggage room is 
unreasonable and void. 25 S. Rep., 157. 

A rule that ticket must be presented before bag¬ 
gage is checked is reasonable. Same case. 

Sleeping Car Companies must have efficient em¬ 
ployees to protect the property of passengers from 
thieves. 24 So. Rep., 921. 

They are liable for loss of property of sleeping pas¬ 
sengers although not notified that the passenger has 
the property. 24 So. Rep., 921. 


Going Into Business ^ * 
* * * * * f or Yourself. 


j( T is not because of greater opportunities to 
amass a fortune that we advise young men to 
go into business for themselves, but because 
such a course develops a man more. Have you never 
noticed how a young man’s powers unfold, how he 
grows, when he goes into business for himself ? 


If, as is usually the case, he has little or no capital 
to begin with, a young man who starts on his own 
account is constantly being called upon to exercise 
his judgment, his executive ability, his power to fore¬ 
cast events. Every faculty is on the alert. Every 
resource is taxed to its utmost to bring the results. 
A few years on the road would, perhaps, be the best 
schooling he could possibly get 

As a rule, the young man who manages his own 
business is obliged to make every dollar do the 
greatest possible execution. As a soldier in battle, 
when reduced to his last few cartridges, must be 
doubly careful in his aim, must be sure to make every 
shot tell, so such a young man must make every dollar 
count. 

When a man works for others, unless he is very 
remarkably constituted, only a part of his powers are 
brought into action. He is not obliged to study and 
think and plan how to keep his business going. When 
he leaves the office or store in the evening, his cares 
and responsibilities cease until he returns next day. 
The financing of the institution does not trouble 



86 


Going Into Business for Yourself. 


him. His planning faculties are not called into 
action; he does not learn the art of seizing oppor¬ 
tunities by being obliged to be on the watch for them; 
he does not develop originality or executive power; 
he does not grow. 

Business is a great educator. It develops fore¬ 
thought and self-sufficiency. A young man cannot 
lean upon others when he is conducting his own busi¬ 
ness. There must be no more walking on crutches. 
He must stand upright, be self-sustaining, self-de¬ 
pendent, or sink back into his former subordinate 
position. 

Continued employment in the service of others, in 
many instances tends to cripple native capacity. Men 
and women do not reach their highest development 
under restraint There must be freedom, before one’s 
life blossoms out into its greatest power and beauty. 
Freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of 
expression, are essential to the largest growth. 

Some people, however, are natural dependents. 
They do not chafe under restraint. They feel lost 
if thrown upon their own resources. They have no 
self-reliance. They must lean upon others, must have 
others to do their thinking and planning. They 
have not developed self-assertion or individuality. 
Indeed, many of them have a talent for self-efface¬ 
ment. They shrink from responsibility, and crave 
the advice, direction, and protection of others. 

What Credit is Based Oh. 

Many young men beginning a business career for 
themselves make the mistake of supposing that finan¬ 
cial credit is based wholly upon property or capital. 
They do not understand that character and reliability, 
combined with aptitude for one’s business and a dis¬ 
position to work hard, are far more important assets 


Going Into Business for Yourself. 


87 


to have in business than millions of dollars without 
them. The young fellow who begins by sweeping out 
the store, and finally becomes a clerk, manager, or 
superintendent, by his energy and reliability of 
character, does not usually find it difficult to secure 
credit to start in business for himself. 

On the other hand, jobbing houses are not inclined 
to advance credit to the man who, though he may have 
inherited a fortune, has shown no capacity for busi¬ 
ness and is of doubtful character. Young men who 
start in for themselves on a small scale are more 
energetic, work harder, are more alert and quicker 
to appreciate the chances of the market, and are more 
polite and willing than those with a large capital. 

The credit man in jobbing houses is very quick, 
as a rule, to see the success qualities in his prospective 
buyer, and seldom makes a mistake in his estimate 
of what credit it is safe to extend him. 

The young man who starts out with the idea that 
his character is his capital, and that his whole man¬ 
hood is pledged for every dollar of indebtedness, will 
usually succeed.— Success. 


^ 


What Is a t r t*. ti 
t t ts t Traveling Man? 


OST people would say, “He is a man that 
goes out to sell goods.” That is right; but 
do you ever think of what importance a 
traveling man is ? 

I have been asked lots of times what I consider a 
good traveling man. I have always answered, “The 
man that has his employer’s business at heart and 
will work as if he were working for himself, which 
he really is doing all the time, without knowing it” 
Traveling men should not think, when on the road, 
working hard, that they don’t get credit for their 
efforts. Every firm and manager appreciates a man 
who does not need watching, as it requires all their 
time, all their capacities, to run their end of the 
business. 

When you work hard and get the business, you are 
building a nice trade for yourself. If you are not 
appreciated by your employer, there are always 
others who would be glad to get you; in fact, it will 
be a case of the position seeking the man, and not the 
man seeking the position. But always stop and 
seriously consider the character of the firm and if 
their goods are all right. It is your duty to guard 
the interests of your customers just as much as those 
of your employer, for your customer is your capital, 
and you must protect it. 

You will find some small traveling men on the 
road, sent out by weak firms, who do not know how 7 



What Is a Traveling Man? 


to do business. I have hardly ever seen them come 
the second time. 

For instance, such a man will come into my place 
to sell goods. I tell him that T have bought all that 
I can possibly use this year. Then he will try to 
make me believe I have paid too much, and offer the 
goods for less than the firm is willing to sell for. Of 
course, all contracts are subject to approval of the 
house, and this is perfectly correct. I don’t think 
much of a traveling man who will make a deal that 
his house will turn down on account of price. He is 
no friend to the traveling men, and is not a business 
man. 

Give me the man who can talk quality and get the 
price, and he will make more monev for his em¬ 
ployer, as well as the dealer, for there is no money in 
cheap goods. Tt does not pay to try to render a dealer 
dissatisfied after he has bought, because you missed 
the order, as you only make it hard on your fellow- 
traveler: and if all dealers were like me, vou would 
never sell them anything. 

T think a good dealer likes to have a traveling man 
call on him; in fact, I do. Such men know what is 
going on all around the territory, and T find that T 
can always learn something from them. T regard it 
a traveling man’s dutv, when in a town, if he has the 
time to do so, to call on all dealers, whether he sells 
to them or not, to keep in touch with them, for he 
never knows when they may need him. I remember 
one traveler who came into my place about twice a 
vear for five years before he got an order from me. 
but he happened to come in one day when things 
were not satisfactory with the house I was dealing 
with, in his line of goods, as they were trying to make 
the deal by correspondence. I made the change right 
there, and T have made money by it, and this man 


90 


What Is a Traveling Man? 


says to-day that I am one of his largest customers. 
You see what perseverance will do. 

The sole duty of the traveling man is to win the 
confidence of his customer, and then to keep it. 
Do not let even your employer compel you to do some¬ 
thing that is not right, for it will pay neither him nor 
you in the end. Stick to the truth, and you will 
always he in demand .—By a Furniture Dealer . 


^ ^ ^ 


t t t 

The Commercial Traveler. 

^ u « 


T. JACKSON, the Louisiana representative 
of Friedman Bros, Shoe Cb., of Sit. Louis, 
has demonstrated that he is an orator of 
eloquence and ability. Below is an extract from his 
address at the Shreveport convention, which was en¬ 
thusiastically received. His subject was “The Com¬ 
mercial Traveler.” 

“The best definition I can give for our craft is 
that, occupying the position of connecting link be¬ 
tween the representatives of the great commercial 
world upon the one side and the still greater pro¬ 
ducing and consuming world upon the other, they 
have a better opportunity of forming an intelligent 
opinion as to the effect of existing conditions upon 
the general prosperity of the country than any other 
class of men in existence. They are, as it were, the 
very arteries through which the commerce of the 
world must travel before it can return, to make glad 
the strong arm that produced it, or the quick brain 
that directed the channels through which it must pass 
before it can be distributed and utilized. 

The thousand white wings that skim the seas of 
commerce, the mad, rushing trains that climb the 
mountain passes and rush on to the accident, bear 
witness to the tireless energy of the commercial trav¬ 
eler. 

The green fields and peaceful homes of the sons 
of agriculture are not strangers to him; the busy 



92 


The Commerelal Traveler. 


marts throbbing with the energy of a thousand indus- 
tries > only testify to the thoroughness of his work. 

Where life is, where energy is, where growth is, 
where development is, there the commercial traveler 
is. He is the index to trade, the thermometer of busi¬ 
ness conditions. When prosperity follows in his 
wake, the nation is prosperous. When hard times 
drive him home again, it is a sure sign of poverty 
amon£ the masses. 

This is unquestionably a commercial era, and the 
demands of trade have drawn into its channels some 
of the brightest minds and most glorious spirits that 
our nation has ever produced. Only a few years ago, 
we were infants in the great world of commerce, and 
to-day the products of our fields, our mines and our 
factories are sold in all the great marts of the world. 
The ensigns of our great army of commercial trav¬ 
elers already float upon the walls of every civilized 
nation on the face of the globe, and we are rapidly 
going into lands whose inhabitants have not yet felt 
the civilizing influence of the fast express train or the 
gentle buzzing of the drummer’s persuasive voice.” 


It It It 


The Art of Winning * * 
* “* ** People’s Confidence. 


0 ELE art of winning people’s confidence quickly 
and retaining it is of inestimable value to a 


salesman who would get on in the world. 
Very few people possess it. The majority of us 
throw barriers in the way of its acquirement by 
having a disagreeable manner, a lack of tact, or per¬ 
haps an unpleasant personality. We frequently an¬ 
tagonize or repel those whom we are anxious to 


please. 

Many people have to work hard to overcome the 
prejudices created by first impressions, while others, 
without effort, charm everyone they meet. 

Success is often due more to engaging manners 
and an attractive personality than to great ability. 

It is not the teacher whose store of knowledge is 
greatest who is successful beyond others, but it is the 
one who pleases and interests by means of tact and 
winning manners. Hor is it always the salesman who 
knows the business from A to Z who is most valuable 
to his employer, but the one who has learned the art 
of pleasing. 

We are so constituted that we are influenced by 
what pleases us, even when it warps our judgment. 
One may feel a prejudice against a book agent who 
has managed to gain access to him, but, if the sales- 




94 The Art of Winning People’s Confidence. 

man has an agreeable personality and succeeds in 
making a favorable impression, he will sell the work 
he is canvassing for, even though the purchaser does 
not want it “I did not really want the book,” the 
latter will be heard to say afterwards, “but the fellow 
was so pleasing, so polite and genial, that I really 
could not help doing what he wanted me to do.” 

: While the art of winning the people’s favor and 
J confidence is, in many instances, a natural gift, like 
most of the good things in life, it may be acquired 
by those who earnestly seek it. 

The first step to be taken is to cultivate, if you do 
not already possess, a uniformly cheerful disposition. 
A bright, smiling face will do more to incline a 
man’s heart toward you and to gain his ear than all 
the virtues in the calendar, handicapped by a gloomy 
visage. 

Be generous with your sympathy and try to be at 
least as much interested in the joys and sorrows 
of others as you would wish them to be in yours. 

When you meet friends or acquaintances, do not 
button-hole them and pour into their unwilling ears 
a history of your affairs. Listen rather to what they 
have to say and try to enter as cordially as possible 
into their feelings, their hopes, their fears and their 
plans. This does not apply to any favored class of 
persons, but it means to give to all hungry hearts 
that generous measure of sympathy which we all 
crave. 

Treat men as brothers, and your kindness will, in 
some instances, outweigh your loss, in the healthy, 
happy atmosphere you will create, and in the friendly 
sentiments you will attract to yourself. 

Above all things else, be consistent and persistent 
in your efforts, or you will accomplish little. It will 
not do to be kind and cheery to-day and gruff and 


The Art of Winning People’s Confidence. 95 


churlish to-morrow; to take pains to please one day 
and to be wholly indifferent the next An even dis¬ 
position is indispensable to the formation of a strong, 
reliable character. No one will give confidence to a 
man who has the reputation of being fickle and 


certain. 




^ ^ -r 

The Incompetent Salesman, Who ^ 
^ ^ ^ Never Has an Opportunity. 

^ ^ ^ 


A LL occupations and avenues of endeavor are 
overcrowded to the indolent, the nerveless and 
the incompetent. There is no room anywhere 
for a lazy man without sufficient ambition to enable 
him to rise. The world is looking for the man who 
can produce results, the leader, the aggressive man, 
and the man who has a purpose. No field is over¬ 
crowded for the original man who can think for him¬ 
self and is not afraid of hard work. The young men 
who are crying that there is no chance, that the trusts 
have ruined their opportunities, would not succeed 
anywhere. 

The cry of overcrowded positions is a bugbear 
only to the weak and the incompetent. Those who 
feel the power within them to make a place for them¬ 
selves in the world never give “no chance” as an ex¬ 
cuse of inaction. 

No young man can hope to advance rapidly if he 
lacks an enterprising, progressive spirit. Indeed, 
enterprise is requisite to employment. No one wants 
to employ a man who lacks push. He must be alive 
to, and in touch with, the spirit of the hour, or he 
is not wanted anywhere. The enterprising employer 
wants every employee to share his spirit. The un¬ 
enterprising business man feels all the more keenly 
the need of assistance from those who can make 
up for his failing. Force, pushing, dynamic quali¬ 
ties are everywhere in eager demand, while the dawd- 



The Incompetent Salesman. 97 

ling, incompetent, non-progressive wait for a start 
or for promotion. 

The lack of opportunity is ever the excuse of a 
weak, vacillating mind. 

Opportunities! Every life is full of them. Every 
lesson in school or college is an opportunity. Every 
sermon is an opportunity. Every business trans¬ 
action is an opportunity—an opportunity to be 
polite; an opportunity to be manly; an opportunity 
to be honest; an opportunity to make friends. Any 
proof of confidence reposed in you is a great oppor¬ 
tunity. 

Every responsibility thrust upon your strength and 
your honor is priceless. Existence is the privilege 
of effort, and when that privilege is met like a 
man, opportunities to success along the line of your 
aptitude will come faster than you can use them. 

It is the idle man, not the great worker, who is 
always complaining that he has neither time nor 
opportunity. 

Some men will make more out of the odds and ends 
of opportunity which many carelessly throw away, 
than others will get out of a whole life. 

The reading of this hook is a great opportunity, and 
you shall not escape its influence. We will groom 
and trim you up a little bit in spite of yourself; hut 
if you have the capacity to digest and supplement 
what you read, the benefit will be greater. You must 
digest and assimilate mental food, as well as beef¬ 
steaks and mutton chops. You must think, think, 
think, and think again. 

At a banquet in Lyons, nearly a century ago, Jean 
Jacques Rousseau was asked at what school he had 
studied. “I have studied in many schools, Mon¬ 
seigneur,” replied the great man, “but the school in 


98 


The Incompetent Salesman. 

which I studied longest and learned the most was the 
school of adversity.” 

John Wanamaker walked four miles to Philadel¬ 
phia every day for several months, and worked in a 
store, for $1.50 per week. 

The leading men of the world to-day were nearly 
all poor boys. 

Fred Douglass was not only a poor boy, but he was 
a negro, and didn’t own even his own body, which was 
mortgaged at one time to pay his master’s debts. 

At the turn of the new century, fresh, unworn 
brains are being hunted down and splendidly re¬ 
warded. 

To the clean man, the man of probity and in¬ 
telligence, sure of himself (but not too sure), with 
his mind working like a piston rod and his body 
built up by exercise and regularity, no position is 
unreachable, no human goal is too far away. As 
the old time wall between master and man is being 
breached, more and more, by mutual interest, co¬ 
operation of workers, high and low, looms up inevita¬ 
ble. On the one side, there should be prompt recog¬ 
nition of merit, and, at all times, courteous considera¬ 
tion; on the other, fidelity, unstinted labor, head- 
work, honest effort. It is the climax of trade unions, 
approaching along peaceful, modern lines.— Success. 


H t* 


^ ^ 

THE TiniD HAN. 

^ ^ 


® HE shrinking man, the man who apologizes for 
being in the world, who never dares to act 
independently, hut who waits for somebody 
to give him a push or a lift, never gets very far in 
the world. Modesty is a desirable trait, but a man 
who is overmodest, who is always getting out of 
sight, is a^ man whom everybody despises and whom 
nobody respects. The world admires the man who 
dares to look it in the face; who stands erect and 
defies obstacles. 

The shrinking man will never amount to much. 
The timid man is a failure as a commercial traveler. 

Be firm, polite and agressive, hut never rude. I 
never knew a man who was overtimid who made a 


success as a salesman.— Professor J. Chris. John¬ 
son. 


It Ifc ^ 



What Keeps Young T ^ ^ 
« « r « ^ ti n flen Down. 


HOUSANT)S of young men of splendid 
W natural ability are dissatisfied. They chafe 
in their positions and wonder why they do 
not get better positions or better salaries, when, in 
many cases, the trouble lies wholly in themselves. 
They are like rough diamonds, and do not know it. 
Nobody wants to wear an uncut diamond, even if it 
is worth a large sum. It is by grinding and polish¬ 
ing that its intrinsic value is multiplied. 

Young men possessing innate qualities that might 
have placed them at the head of great business en¬ 
terprises, or who might have earned for themselves 
fame as commercial salesmen, are frequently seen 
working in very ordinary positions and for small 
salaries. This is because they have never been sub¬ 
mitted to the grinding process, or else they have 
chafed under it so much that those who were doing 
the grinding became disgusted and stopped working. 
They are slipshod in their methods, loose-jointed 
in their composition, and careless in their diction. 

Such people are naturally dissatisfied, because they 
are conscious of a rare power which they are not 
using; they feel that they are getting a living by their 
weakness, rather than by their strength. 

There is considerable difference between a thing 
done in a masterly way and that done in a mediocre 
manner. The great value of a work of art lies in just 
this difference. 



101 


What Keeps Yeung Men Down. 

Most people do not possess the stamina or the per- 
sistence, to take the step from mediocrity to ex¬ 
cellence, but are content to remain all their lives in 
obscurity and under the curse of commonness. 

A man worth a salary of ten thousand dollars a 
year cannot blame others if he continues in a position 
where he is paid only five thousand dollars, simply 
because he is unwilling to go through the process 
necessary to bring out his value—to undergo the 
polishing which will reveal the brilliancy of the real 
gem. 

The marble in the quarry may rebel at the blasting, 
sawing, cutting, rasping, and polishing, which it must 
endure at the hands of the quarryman and sculptor; 
but, when it stands upon a pedestal as a statue of 
some great hero, it learns that the handling it has 
undergone has been the great secret of its value. 
Raw material can never realize its true worth, until 
it has been put into proper shape. 

The granite or marble cannot complain that its 
value is not appreciated, while it rebels at the pro¬ 
cess necessary to make it worthy to become the corner 
stone of a great building or the pillar of a mighty 
bridge. 

There is nothing more blighting to natural ability 
than allowing one’s self to half do things and to 
shrink from striking out for something better. If 
you want a good position on the road, with a large 
salary, just remember the place is waiting for you. 
All you have to do is to work yourself up to it. 
Pluck, perseverance and determination are the 
essentials.— Success. 


Who Are First- ^ r ^ ^ ^ 
^ % ^ Class Salesmen ? 


ARLYLE says, “Great men are the commis- 
VU' sioned guides of mankind, who rule their 
fellows wisely and justly, being imbued with 
a spirit of love and patriotic pride for their country 
and their fellow men.” 

Speaking from a commercial standpoint, we say 
the first-class commercial traveler is one who is im¬ 
bued with the true spirit of enterprise, pluck and 
energy, high-toned and honorable, whose moral man¬ 
hood would feel outraged and insulted at the least 
intimation of deception, sharp practice or dishonesty. 
Men of this class command respect and patronage, 
where the sharper fail, and they are always first- 
class commercial salesmen .—Professor J. Chris. 
Johnson. 


It 


It It 



Tribute to the * * * * * * 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Traveling flan. 




HE modern traveling man is a product of the 
industrial age in which we live. He is an 
indispensable adjunct of the great factories 


and foundries—an inevitable differentiation from the 
complexities of modern business. He is the incar¬ 
nation of the spirit of commercialism. He represents 
the most strenuous competitions the world has ever 
known. 

He is the most cosmopolitan of mortals. The en¬ 
tire world is his field of labor. If you take the wings 
of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the 
earth, you will find him there, up and ready for busi¬ 
ness before breakfast. The only reason the "North 
Pole has never been found is that they never sent 
traveling men after it. 

He is the serenely confident, undismayed, ubiqui¬ 
tous embodiment of energy. He is all things to all 
men. He will sell ice machines and iron idols in 
Tndia with the same zest that he disposes of blankets 
and Bibles in British America. 

Sociologically the commercial agents exercise a pro¬ 
found influence upon the national life. In foreign 
lands, they are the advance guard of civilization; at 
home, they are the destroyers of provincialism. They 
are all optimists. They have no use for ancient his¬ 
tory—they live in the future. 

They are always painting rainbows across the 
clouds of financial distress. They are dispensers of 



108 


The Time--And the Young Man. 


world, and not by the “love of seeming to be great 
in the eyes of mankind.” 

Seeming may do for a time, but it will soon cease 
to be current coin with which to buy bread or gain 
reputation. The young man must realize that he must 
work for what he gets in this life. An active, indus¬ 
trious man will never be content with the gold dust 
dug by others, but inspired and enthused by their suc¬ 
cess, will dig for himself. If life were simply a 
smooth plane, no obstacles to surmount, no difficulties 
to overcome, no victories to gain, what honor would 
there be in doing well and nobly all things ? Young 
man, be true —true to yourself, true to your fellow- 
man. Your advantages are unlimited, your possi¬ 
bilities are unknown. When we contemplate the 
works of past ages, the opportunities of time past, 
and then revert to the advantages of this age, we 
can but expect of it more startling discoveries) a 
grander civilization, and victories unparalleled. If 
you would see the man who is the true nobleman, 
you will find him in the solitary man struggling and 
wrestling, day and night, perhaps, to build up a 
trade, falling, but rising again, while there are none 
by to cheer and encourage. With no applause, no re¬ 
sult apparent, he ever presses forward to the object 
of his life, with his eyes fixed upon the goal. The 
grandest of the world’s heroes are those who achieve 
their victories upon the stainless fields of intellectual 
and moral combat. It matters not that the stream of 
ancestral blood has its fountain-head deep hid in the 
veil of obscurity, the real patrician in American so¬ 
ciety is the man of thought and of action. In this 
fact is the greatest encouragement to struggling am¬ 
bition, and the highest hope for the young man. In 
every department of life, it is the nameless toilers 
who build cities and save nations; and he is success- 


The Time-And the Young Man. 


109 


ful who performs well his part in the great drama of 
life. Adversity may await him, but it is a source of 
strength. Slander, with her tongue barbed with 
envy, malice and jealousy, may cover his pathway 
with the scum of falsehood, but an upright life and 
determined purpose to do one’s duty will give 
strength to character. 

Be vigilant of your trust, for it is infinite; true 
to yourself, for you are immortal; faithful to God, 
for with Him are the issues from death. Life, with 
all its beauty, with all its suggestiveness, with all its 
freshness, with all its primal power, is in us, around 
us, and beneath us; and man is still great enough for 
him to win from its fair, wide fields, fresh supplies 
for immortal deeds .—By a Member of Post A, Rich- 
mond, VaT. P. A. News Letter. 


^ ^ ^ 


106 


Tribute to the Traveling ^an. 


not to see the time of night, hut to look at the little 
picture of the one “fair woman under the sun”—she 
and none other, his wife. As he put up the watch, 
he would murmur, “God bless her.” 

The simple prayer came from the depths of his lov¬ 
ing heart, and it went straight to heaven. Love of 
home and family is, I believe, stronger with commer¬ 
cial travelers than with any other class of men. The 
old aphorism, “Absence makes the heart grow 
fonder,” finds its fullest exemplification in the ranks 
of this great army of home-loving men. 

When things are coming his way, he is liberal and 
generous to a fault—nothing is too good for him or 
for his. When it is otherwise, he accepts the situa¬ 
tion regretfully but philosophically, and proceeds to 
sacrifice himself for those he loves. I have known 
him to carry his heavy grips from the trains to the 
hotels and make the old overcoat do another winter, 
that the dear boy might have a bicycle. I have known 
him to quit smoking, saying that it did not agree with 
him, that he might send the money to mother, who 
was having a hard time, back in the old home.— Dr. 
W. A. Gordon, in the Oshkosh Times. 


^ ^ ^ 


The Time—And the * * * 
^ ^ n ^ Young Man. 


man. 

finite. 


HMN we read the history of the past and ob¬ 
serve the indications of the present, we are 
inspired with a high hope for the destiny of 
The finite is the unfolding lesson of the in- 
There seems to be an intellect in all beings, 
from plant to man, from man to angels, and from an¬ 
gels to God. The inanimate is ever making its im¬ 
press upon the animate, leading to higher and nobler 
forms of life. We have within us an ever-climbing 
aspiration. The attainments of each generation pre¬ 
pare the next for a higher plane. Eeason, as a rule, 
in the regions of thought, is a lover of conquest, and 
demands full homage. It carries with it life, liberty 
and happiness. All its victories are bloodless, and its 
conquests are peace. 

The young man, in looking down the broad vista 
that opens before him, can but realize his vast re¬ 
sources, capabilities and duties. Burning with a de¬ 
sire to do something for himself and his people, filled 
with a laudable ambition to surpass in achievements, 
to drink deeper of the fountain of knowledge, and to 
reap more of the true glory of the world than his kind 
of the past, he can but feel that all these are his, if 
he will use his God-given powers and his invaluable 
opportunities. Each man has a power and fitness 
born with him to do easily and successfully some work 
impossible to any other man. The time is now at 
hand when man is measured by what he is, or should 
be, prompted by honor, truth and the good of the 



104 


Tribute to the Traveling ian. 


cheeriness, the distributors of sunshine, the apostles 
of hope. The thorough commercial traveler is irre¬ 
pressible. 

When trade is dull and times are so hard that 
there seems nothing but defeat and disaster awaiting 
him, when other men would give up in despair, you 
will hear him softly humming to himself, “Every^ 
day’ll be Sunday bye and bye.” 

The traveling man always belongs to the same 
lodge that ,you do. Suppose for a moment that all 
commercial travelers were placed on the farms of the 
country for a year. How lonely the world would be! 
We would never get any new stories then. Often his 
stories are not new, but he always tells them with as 
much enthusiasm as if they were. Only yesterday 
one came in with this new-old historic utterance: 
“When God made the world, He rested. When He 
made man, He rested. Then He made woman, and 
neither God nor man has ever had any rest since.” 

The traveling men are really a great body of 
national educators. To the remotest hamlet they 
carry the news of everything new under the sun. 

All that science, art, literature and invention have 
produced, they quickly place before their customers. 
To be strictly up-to-date is one of the ambitions of 
the commercial agent. To be first in presenting the 
latest food, fabric, book, instrument, medicine, ma¬ 
chine or any recent article of merchandise whatever, 
is one of his greatest efforts. And how diligently and 
convincingly he expatiates upon the merits of the 
article under consideration and how skillfully he in- 
cidently mentions the unrivalled excellence of the 
house he represents! 

"While the commercial agents are educating those 
with whom they come in contact, they themselves are 
being educated. They learn to know the supreme 



Tribute to the Traveling Man. 


105 


value of honesty, truthfulness and fair dealing. They 
promptly ascertain that dishonest goods will, sooner 
or later, ruin the firm that sends them out. 

They learn that integrity and conscience are essen¬ 
tial to success, by observing the various fluctuations of 
human life. The wealthy merchant of last year is a 
hopeless bankrupt this year. They see the orphan 
office boy become the head of the great firm. 

Sometimes their hearts are embittered by injustice, 
deception and ingratitude. The discomforts of travel 
and the wearing anxieties of their nomadic life, make 
them all look forward to a golden time of comfort and 
happiness when they will no longer wander from their 
own firesides. 

Ho one knows the traveling man better than my¬ 
self, between the cradle and the grave. T have asso¬ 
ciated with him under nearly all possible circum¬ 
stances, in a business way. His glowing representa¬ 
tions have induced me to buy articles T didn’t need 
and couldn’t afford. In a social way, I have been his 
guest in the banquet hall. Where can you find more 
genial, gracious and whole-souled hospitality than at 
the festive hoard of the commercial traveler? 

I have seen him at his wedding and have helped to 
kiss the bride. T have traveled with him across the 
country in the old-fashioned stage, when his pleasant¬ 
ries beguiled the laden hours. 

T have been in his home where there was much joy 
and gladness over the birth of the baby, and also on 
another day when there was a sombre shadow across 
the threshold, because the white soul of the baby had 
journeyed ahead in the light. 

I have seen him at the little, lonely country junc¬ 
tion, waiting for the belated, snow-bound midnight 
train. The weary winter wind was moaning through 
the depot. Occasionally he would take out his watch, 


t t t 

Thought-Architecture. 

^ ^ ^ 


OST of us have an idea that the structure of 
our minds is determined for us by heredity 
or by other causes beyond our control; in 
other words, that the mind is fixed in its structure, 
and that all we can do is to modify it a little by edu¬ 
cation and culture. 

The fact is that what we call our real selves has 
been largely determined by the character and quality 
of our thinking. Outside the mind, our bodies are no 
more than a stone or a piece of wood. The moment 
the mind leaves the body, it falls, a dead and useless 
mass. The mind is all. 

It is possible to change the structure of the mind 
by habitually controlling the thought. There is no 
reason why we should allow the mind to wander 
around into all sorts of fields and to dwell upon all 
sorts of subjects at random. The Ego, the will power, 
or what we call the real self, the governor of the mind, 
can dominate the thought With a little practice, we 
can control and concentrate the mind in any reason¬ 
able way we please. 

Attention, therefore, controlled by the will and 
directed by reason and our higher judgment, can so 
discipline the mind and thought that they will dwell 
on higher ideals, until high thinking has become a 
habit. Then the lower ideals and lower thinking will 
drop out of consciousness and the mind will be left 
upon a higher plane. It is only a question of discip- 



Thought-Architecture. 


Ill 


line, and no commercial traveler should fail to un¬ 
derstand thought-culture. 

Thought-culture is the most important business of 
life. Everything depends upon the quality of the 
mind; and, by constantly holding the thought and 
concentrating it upon the good, the true, and the 
beautiful, we shall soon form a habit of high think¬ 
ing, which will be so delightful that we shall never 
wish to let the mind drop again. 

The possibilities of thought-culture are beyond cal¬ 
culation. The daily stretching of the mind to attain 
high ideals will extend it more and more, and we 
shall continually approximate more nearly to perfec¬ 
tion. 

How great a change do we often see effected in 
the mental structure of many boys and girls during 
their few years of school or college life. The mind 
is constantly fixed upon higher models, until its 
whole structure is changed. The student is no longer 
satisfied with low thinking and low ideals. 

The daily and hourly admiration of a high ideal 
will, in a very short time, insensibly lead the mind 
to measure up to it. When it has once become con¬ 
scious that the attainment of the ideal is possible, it 
can no longer be satisfied with the mean, the low, the 
common; for the higher life, the higher ideal, will 
haunt it forever. 

Thus we see the power of thought, not only to build 
up a life and make it beautiful, but to make it more 
successful. 

A habit of looking constantly upon the dark side 
of things, of thinking that something terrible is 
going to happen, that we are unfortunate, that fate 
is against us, that we were born under an unlucky 
star, and that our lives are comparative failures; a 
habit of thinking that we, perhaps, are not so smart 


116 


How to Get and Keep a Position. 


will conduct the affairs of the future are the men who 
have been trained for that purpose. The man who 
has worked his way from the lowest round will be the 
man who will ultimately determine the destiny of the 
business concern. Our vast business enterprises are 
becoming larger every year. No man can be trusted 
with such management who does not know every 
fractional part of the working of that concern with 
which he is connected and who has not been a part of 
that working. Hence the importance of giving work 
to men and women who will keep the best interest of 
their employers at heart, and will blend this interest 
with their work. 

If you seek employment as a stenographer, let your 
appearance tell that you are a stenographer; if you 
seek employment as a coal-heaver, let your appear¬ 
ance show that you are a coal-heaver. I do not mean 
that the stenographer shall be gay with cheap jewelry 
or redolent with the lingo of the typewriter, nor do T 
mean that the coal-heaver shall be black, grimy and 
unwashed. But T do mean that you must aim 
straight at your point; that you must show, first of 
all, by clear expressions, by ready answers, by a 
polite, gentle, yet vigorous manner, that you are 
ready to fill the place to the best of your ability. 

Our country is full of old men who are still looking 
for positions, because they have failed to master this 
important factor of application. Be positive that you 
can do the work you seek. Never take a place simply 
to have something to do, for you will only waste your 
time^ and, in a few years, you will be forced out of 
your position on the charge of incompetency. Be sure 
that you are willing to do what your employer wants 
you to do. When you approach a business man to 
apply for a position, do so in a manner that will 
make a pleasant impression. As an office boy or 


How to Get and Keep a Position. 117 

cashier, let him know that you are going to work for 
his interest. Show him that you have clean hands 
and clear eyes, and that you are ambitious and can 
prove your character. Do not make promises which j 
you know you may not be able to carry out. Argue 
the point of salary as little as possible, unless you are 
asked to accept a starvation figure, and I do not be¬ 
lieve that the American lives who does not consider 
the laborer worthy of his hire. Be firm in your con¬ 
victions. Never whine or complain. Never tell why 
you did not succeed in your last place, unless your 
new employer demands such an explanation; then tell 
it briefly, and tell the truth. Above all things else, 
show that you want to take an interest in your em¬ 
ployer’s business, and that you are a clear-headed, 
clear-minded, careful, observing person, with excel¬ 
lent habits and a determination that is not hounded 
by a desire to do nothing more than a day’s work, 
simply because you are obliged to work. It is need¬ 
less for me to waste space in telling how to apply for 
a position; I take it for granted that all know the im¬ 
portance of a neat, correctly-spelled, grammatical let¬ 
ter. 

Having secured your position, how shall you keep 
it ? First and always, by being absolutely and strictly 
honest; for honor and character are man’s greatest 
promoters. They stimulate energy and promote con¬ 
fidence. Who can deny the great power of energy 
and confidence ? After an employer discovers he has 
an energetic clerk, in whom he can place absolute con¬ 
fidence, that clerk’s future is a very promising one. 

Go to work with slow, steady, determined effort. 
Don’t grab your pen or shovel as if you knew just 
what you are expected to do without explanation. 
Don’t give your employer the impression that he has 
secured a man who is using his brains simply to 


How to Get and ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
* * Keep a Position. 


3 T is one thing to get a position; it is another 
thing to keep it. Getting a position requires 
tact, forcefulness and perspicuity; keeping a 
position is an art. Getting positions is accomplished 
by a large number of men and women, but the number 
of those who can keep positions is but a small per¬ 
centage of the whole. 

When one starts forth to look for a position, he 
must possess the qualities of cleanliness, clearness and 
perspicuity. One reason for this is that so much de¬ 
pends upon the first impression. 

Lax methods, unkept hair, soiled fingers, a neck¬ 
tie awry, confused speech, are some of the faults that 
destroy the chances of an applicant. When a man 
who is conducting a successful business advertises 
for a janitor or a private secretary, he goes to his 
office and finds several dozen applicants awaiting 
him. He hears them, one by one, and notices that 
this young man has failed to polish his shoes, that the 
young woman talks with a discordant slang, that So- 
and-so is carrying the end of a cigarette in his yellow, 
nicotined fingers, or that Miss This-and-that is over¬ 
adorned with cheap jewelry. He finds that one young 
man is utterly incapable of expressing himself 
clearly, and that another has a newspaper, with the 
chart of the horse race, sticking from his pocket. 
Each applicant is denied a chance because his out- 
ward appearance arouses suspicion; and the mer- 



How to Get and Keep a Position. 


IIS 


chant, sick, disheartened and disgusted with hu¬ 
manity, goes home or to the club, to forget his un¬ 
pleasant half day. 

These statements may seem exaggerated, but they 
are the plain, unvarnished experiences that business 
men encounter every day. Frequently employers are 
obliged to engage slovenly, untidy men and women, 
whom they dislike, because the advances of their busi¬ 
ness demand more workers and suitable ones are not 
to be had; but you may be assured that, when busi¬ 
ness slackens, such employees are the first to go. 

A STRONG IMPRESSION IS MADE BY CLEAR AND CON¬ 
CISE STATEMENTS. 

In all matters it is best to speak plainly. Clear, 
concise, transparent expressions are the ones that 
carry the most weight. Speech is a wonderful indi¬ 
cator of character. The art of speaking plainly and 
clearly is as necessary a part of one’s education as are 
the rudiments of arithmetic, and if I were a teacher, 
I would institute regular lessons in conversation and 
expression. A man who can talk without making his 
listener wonder if he was reared in the domain of in¬ 
comprehensibility, is the man who will have the first 
chance. An employer wants a man who can explain 
himself and whose conversation shows that its foun¬ 
tain is a clear, clean mind. We like a touch of vigor 
in one’s speech, but we loathe a hint of egotism or a 
molecule of self-praise. We like a man who can say, 
“I will try,” with the firm conviction that he will try, 
but we dislike the man who says, “Why, that’s easy!” 
and arrives at a conclusion of his worth before he 
knows what he is going to do. 

The steady-growing business concerns, the great 
mercantile houses and the commercial consolidations 
of the United States have discovered that the men who 


112 


Thought-Architecture. 


as others who have succeeded and that we have over¬ 
estimated our ability; in other words, a habit of 
worrying or of self-depreciation will, after a while, 
dwarf the highest ideals, and make the brightest sales¬ 
man a failure. 

Descensus averno facilis est. While to ascend is 
difficult, it is always easy to go down hill. All we 
have to do to cause anything to run down is to let it 
alone. A dead fish will float down a stream. Only 
a live one can go up .—By William Pitney Flint, in 
Success. 


^ ^ ^ 


^ ^ ^ 

The Best Advertisement. 

^ 


3 H building up a business, the best advertisement 
ever written is poor compared with a reputa¬ 
tion for keeping “honest goods” and telling the 
exact truth about them. Found your business upon 
truth, and the superstructure will be a success. 

A. T. Stewart’s integrity paid, and paid in cash. 
Ho clerk was allowed to misrepresent any goods or 
cover up flaws. One day a clerk pointed out to him 
the defects of a particular style of goods of which he 
had a sample in his hand. At that moment a cus¬ 
tomer from an interior city, who gave large orders, 
came in and asked, “Have you anything new and 
first-class to show me to-day ? ” The young man re¬ 
plied promptly, “Yes, sir; we have just bought some¬ 
thing which will suit you to a dot,” throwing across 
his arm the very piece of goods which he had criti¬ 
cized to his employer. He expatiated so earnestly 
upon its quality that he made a large sale. 

Mr. Stewart, who had been a witness of the trans¬ 
action, warned the customer to give the goods further 
and more careful examination, and then, turning to 
the dishonest clerk, told him to go upstairs to the 
cashier and get any wages due him, as he would have 
no further need of his services. 

Once, when Lincoln was asked to take what he be¬ 
lieved to be the wrong side of a case, he declined,, say¬ 
ing, “I couldn’t do it. All the time, while talking to 
that jury, I should be thinking, ‘Lincoln, you’re a 
liar,’ and I believe I should forget myself and say it 
aloud.”— Success. 



118 


How to Get and Keep a Position. 


figure out how far his weekly wages will go, if it will 
pay only the rent and buy the food, or if it will go so 
far as to permit two theater tickets and a new 
collar for the dog. Perhaps you think your employer 
cannot detect such thoughts. He is, perhaps, a keen 
man, who has probably employed scores before you, 
and who has had much practice in reading the expres¬ 
sions of men. 

When luncheon or closing time is approaching, 
don’t begin to prepare for leaving twenty minutes 
beforehand. I know a young man who stopped work 
regularly at 11:40 A. Ml and 5:10 P. ML, in order 
to have plenty of time to “wash-up,” arrange his 
cuffs and tie, and brush his hair, so that he could leave 
promptly at 12 o’clock for luncheon, and at 5 :30 P. 
M., when the store was closed. It was some years ago. 
That man is still looking for a “good job.” He has 
had more than a dozen. He knew how to get them, 
but he never acquired the art of keeping them. Don’t 
be afraid of trying to do more than is expected of 
you. This has been the cause of many a man’s 
failure. The bookkeeper who gives up a theater 
party or an evening social, in order to try to com¬ 
plete a balance sheet, does not escape his employer’s 
notice. He has shown willingness and has given the 
“boss” good evidence that he regards his interest be¬ 
fore his own pleasure. You may make mistakes; 
but, if you do, say so, and make your amends by 
trying to correct them. Yever lie about a mistake, 
for such a course adds cowardice to an already un¬ 
pleasant condition. 

If you lose your temper, do not look for it. 

Determined effort, with an inclination to learn and 
to improve and a desire to master the details of the 


119 


How to Get and Keep a Position. 

work you are assigned to do, will greatly modify the 
hard, unpleasant tasks that fall to one’s lot in every 
position. 

Always remember that, next to honor, the quality 
that counts the most is personality. While many 
will tell you that personality is a gift just as surely 
as is the art of composing music, let me assure you 
that nothing else can be acquired so easily as per¬ 
sonality, if one has the mind and the inclination to 
acquire it. A bad temper, a sour disposition, becom¬ 
ing cross and petulant when denied your way, speak¬ 
ing with sharpness, when a kind word can just as 
easily be uttered, and letting anger have its way, are 
faults that may be overcome if one earnestly and per¬ 
sistently tries to do so. They hinder the acquire¬ 
ment of a desirable personality, thus lessening one’s 
advancement, and more than all besides, they shorten 
life. Personality is nothing if it is not the companion 
of politeness. No man wants to keep a person in his 
employ if he is not polite. Never let a harsh or im¬ 
polite personality be the weak link in the chain of 
your qualities; if it is, you can rest assured that it is 
the easiest link to strengthen. I do not mean to infer 
that one should be maudlin and puttylike in order to 
produce personality, or that he should assume polite¬ 
ness. Such a condition or attempt never exalts a 
man; it simply makes him appear false in the eyes of 
his employer. Nature made all of us to act naturally. 
A bad temper can be expurgated the same as any 
other vice. Don’t confound anger and firmness. We 
admire a man who can assert his rights and stand by 
them, and we more than respect a man who can say 
“No,” with vigor and purpose, when “No” should be 
said; but we rightly despise a person who scolds and 
vociferates. 

You can hold your position if you fit yourself to 


120 


How to Get and Keep a Position. 


its mold so as to fill every crevice. Be like a cake. 
At first it is a soft, spongy dough, and poured into 
a mold which it but half fills. As it hakes, it rises 
and crowds every dent in the mold. Not content, 
it bulges over the top, and makes a cake larger than 
the mold will hold. Sb, young man and young 
woman, be larger than your mold. After you have 
filled every crease and crevice of your position to 
advantage, work out at the top. It is the largest cake 
that brings the most money. 

Always keep your promises. Your employer will 
never ask you to do more than is possible. Remember 
that an unfilled promise is as bad as a downright un¬ 
truth. Live within your means. Never let a month 
pass that you do not put something into the bank. Sav¬ 
ing is the first great basic principle in the founda¬ 
tion of success. Dress neatly and plainly, for an em¬ 
ployer marks a man as a fool who apparels himself 
with extravagance and glaring colors. Never try to 
win the favor of your employer by slandering your 
fellow workers. Slander always sticks. Show kind¬ 
ness to your fellow employees, hut do not let it he 
forced kindness, for that deserves no thanks. Resolve 
slowly, and act quickly. Remember, it is better to he 
alone than to he in had company; that you cannot 
give your employer or yourself full value, if you try 
to work after a night of dissipation; that silence, like 
cleanliness, is akin to godliness; and that a clear con¬ 
science gives sound sleep and good digestion and 
clothes one in an impregnable coat of mail. 

Last, hut not least, remember that out of business 
hours your home deserves most of your attention. The 
employer feels an immediate confidence in the man 
or woman whose home is free from extravagance, 
enmity, contempt, wrath, strife, envy and opposition. 
Keep happiness in your home and you will create 
strength and efficiency for your work. 


^ ^ Ipt 

The American Drummer Is It 'll 'll 
^ ^ ^ Something of a Wonder. 

^ tl ^ 


S HE following speech made by Jerry M. Por¬ 
ter, of Clinton, Ky., on “The Drummer,” 
gives some astounding facts about that repre¬ 
sentative American product. 

“The drummers of America represent the highest 
order of labor, as a class, on the face of the earth to¬ 
day. 

They draw the largest salaries of any class of hired 
men in America except the president of the United 
States. 


Some few railroad presidents draw $50,000 an¬ 
nually, but they are stockholders, and not, strictly 
speaking, hired men. 

Some few bank presidents draw $50,000, but they, 
too, are stockholders and not hired men. 

All the drummers combined draw more money 
in salaries than all the combined forces of any other 
class of men under the sun. 

Senators and congressmen draw each $5,000 a 
year and there are thousands of drummers that draw 
much larger salaries than they. 

The past and present presidents of the United 
States, at $50,000 annual salaries, would only draw 
$5,000,000 in 100 years of time, just the little pocket 
change that the drummers of America draw in two 
days and a half. 

The congressmen and senators, combined, at 
$5,000 annually, only draw $2,500,000 in an even 



122 The American Drummer Is Something of a Wonder. 

100 years, just half what the drummers draw in only 
one year. 

If 5,000 bank presidents drew each $5,000 an¬ 
nually, their combined salaries would only amount to 
$250,000,000 in an even 100 years, only half what 
the drummers draw in the same length of time. 

We draw $500,000,000 salaries every year, and 
spend $500,000,000 more in our expense account— 
circulate one round billion dollars every year. We 
pay . to railroads $200,000,000 annually, and spend 
$50,000,000 for incidentals rarely ever itemized. 

We talk about a billion dollar Congress, that means 
two sessions, with appropriations for two years. We 
spend a billion dollars every year and never feel it. 

Five hundred million dollars is supposed to be 
ample to run the United States Government, with all 
its expenses, every year, while we spend that much 
every six months. 

The gross earnings of all the railroads in America 
are put at $2,000,000,000 annually. Their net 
earnings, at 4 per cent., amount to $80,000,000 pro¬ 
fit, We sell $9,000,000,000 every year, which repre¬ 
sents our gross earnings for our respective firms. At 
2 per cent, net profit, we would make our net earn¬ 
ings $180,000,000*—$100,000,000 more at 2 per 
cent than all the railroads make at 4 per cent. 

I can take the salaries of all the drummers of the 
United States for one year, combine them in one 
mighty trust, and make Morgan look like 30 cents. I 
could take the amount and buy all the railroad stocks 
that the Vanderbilts, Goulds and Hills could carry 
to save their combined, and I could buy Rockefeller 
and every coal oil can in the world. I believe I could 
take it and intimidate Mrs. Chadwick, with a dozen 
millionaires on her notes. 

The assessed wealth of America is estimated at 


The American Drummer Is Something of a Wonder. 123 

$80,000,000,000,000. If we sell $9,000,000,000 an¬ 
nually, then we sell all the combined wealth of Amer¬ 
ican out, lock, safe and barrel, every nine years, and 
so, to anyone wishing to invest with us in this mighty 
nine years of the possibilities of the drummer, at this 
ratio, we can guarantee 11 per cent on the invest¬ 
ment. 

There are 200,000 miles of single railroad track 
in the United States, and if it costs $25,000 a mile 
to build it and $25,000 a mile to equip it, the value 
of all the railroads in America equipped would be 
$10,000,000,000. I can take the salaries and ex¬ 
pense accounts of the traveling men of America for 
one year and buy one-tenth interest in all the rail¬ 
roads, and in ten years could own them all at what 
they are actually worth. 

We draw more salaries annually in America, as 
drummers, than the standing armies of the round, 
round world cost in the same length of time. 

We are the highest livers in the world and the 
biggest money spenders on the globe, because we live 
on the best going and always buy the best we can find. 

We are world builders and ball rollers, and we are 
always busy .”—Knoxville Sentinel. 


It ^ t 


tt ^ ^ 

The Traveling Man. 

^ 


Consider now the Traveling Man, 
That gaj and festive blade, 

Who goeth up and down the land, 

In sporty garb arrayed; 

Who playeth havoc with the hearts 
Of many country belles, 

And stoppeth, like the prince he is, 
At all the best hotels. 


Now mark him as he sits him down 
Outside the tavern door, 

And lighteth up his good cigar, 

Which costs ten cents or more, 

And with his comrades gathered round, 
He swappeth sundry lies, 

Or at the village maiden fair 
Doth make the goo-goo eyes. 


And presently he to the bar 
With others doth repair, 

And many highballs will be take 
To drive away dull care. 

Now would not such a life of ease 
Appeal to anyone? 

^And would we all were traveling men— 
Nay, wait a bit, my son. 



125 


The Traveling Man* 

For in the mom, ere dawn hath come, 
From bed ariseth he, 

And dresseth in a chilly room 
To catch the five-naught-three. 

As breakfast is not ready yet, 

He getteth on the train, 

And rideth down to Green’s Cross Roads, 
Perhaps an hour or twain. 


And there, before the tavern stove, 

He warmeth up his legs, 

And presently he sits him down 
To hash or ham and eggs; 

And when to work he goeth forth, 

He finds, to his amaze, 

His customers have gone to town 
To be there several days. 

He rusheth back unto the inn 
To make his get-away, 

And there, with sinking heart, he hears 
The landlord calmly say: 

“Was you a-going east, my friend ? 

Well, you are left all right. 

There ain’t no other train that way 
Till 9:18 tonight,” 

So when at last the weary day 
Hath dragged its leaden round, 
Again the happy traveling man 
Is at the station found. 

And to him comes the ticket man 
And cheerfully doth state: 

“Just make yourself at home, old man, 
Your train’s three hours late.” 


126 


The Traveling Man. 

When on the morrow he awakes, 

Again at work to start, 

He gets a letter from his house 
Which cheereth up his heart: 

“We note that your expense account 
Is running far too high; 

We must have this curtailed at once 
Or know the reason why.” 

How, if his overcoat’s at home, 

The mercury doth drop; 

But if he’s clad in winter clothes, 

It hovers near the top; 

And all the nicest days come when 
He’s traveling on trains, 

But if he has ten miles to drive, 

It either snows or rains. 

At length, the weary trip is done, 

And he is home once more; 

He sees his wife an hour or so, 

Then drops down to “the store”; 

And pleasant words like these he hears: 
“What, Jimmie, home so soon? 

We’ll get your samples up in shape 
To start to-morrow noon.” 

Ah, envy not the Traveling Man, 

For though his job seems gay, 

Despite his efforts, now and then, 

Some work will come his way; 

And when to you it seems his lot 
Is one of joy alone, 

Remember that the Drummer has 
Some troubles of his own. 


-New York Sun. 


The Drummer with the Grip. 1127 

TILE DRUMMER WITH HIS (HUP. 


Though, the trains may all be smashing, though the 
horses all go lame, 

The ever-smiling drummer will get there just the 
same; 

And when the time is over, he’ll come smiling from 
the trip; 

For he always makes connections—the drummer with 
his grip. 

Ah! he teaches us a lesson, with his energy and 

grit) 

Things that paralyze most people don’t astonish him 
a bit; 

For he’s ever bright and cheerful, with a smile upon 
his lip; 

He’s a daisy from away back, the drummer with his 
grip. 

Give him a kind word always, he’ll give you back 
the same; 

For the doing of some black sheep, don’t give the 
whole tribe blame; 

For adown, way down to Hades, lots of so called good 
men slip, 

While along the road to Heaven, goes the drummer 
with his grip. 


n « tl 

Turned Down Orders. 

n r « 


A traveling man may avoid the necessity of 
having orders turned down, by posting him¬ 
self beforehand and not soliciting an order 
beyond the amount that the customer would be reason¬ 
ably entitled to. He may avoid the turning down of 
orders, by impressing on the trade the necessity of 
meeting a bill as it matures and by not offering a 
longer time than the regular, established terms. He 
may avoid the turning down of orders by encouraging 
his trade to give signed statements to regularly estab¬ 
lished mercantile agencies and firms from whom they 
are seeking credit. He may avoid largely the neces¬ 
sity of turning down orders by educating his trade in 
up-to-date business ideas. Many of them come fresh 
from the fields of other work of life, in which they 
have had no opportunity to gain a business education. 
To such he may lend a helping hand, by educating 
them in the economy of purchasing goods and the 
methods of handling their office departments, so that 
their business prosperity will be increased and they 
will have placed themselves in a position where they 
will he entitled to confidence and credit. I am sure 
there is not a salesman (surely in the best and 
broadest sense), who does not, at the end of the year, 
look back with as great a degree of pride on a record 
that shows few losses as on one that shows a large 
volume of sales. 



The Path the Calf Made. 

THE PATH THE CALE MADE. 

One day, through the primeval wood, 

A calf walked home, as good calves should; 
But made a trail all bent askew— 

A crooked trail, as all calves do. 

Since then, two hundred years have fled, 
And, I infer, the calf is dead. 

The trail was taken up next day 
By a lone dog that passed that way; 

And then a wise bell-wether sheep 
Pursued the trail o’er vale and steep, 

And drew the flock behind him, too, 

As good bell-wethers always do. 

And from that day, o’er hill and glade, 
Through those old woods, a path was made; 
And many men wound in and out, 

And dodged and turned and bent about 
And uttered words of righteous wrath; 
Because ’twas such a crooked path. 

But still they followed—do not laugh— 

The first migrations of the calf, 

And through this winding woodway stalked, 
Because he wobbled when he walked. 

This forest path became a lane, 

That bent, and turned, and turned again; 
This crooked lane became a road, 

Where many a poor horse, with his load, 
Toiled on beneath the burning sun, 

And traveled some three miles in one. 

And thus a century and a half, 

They trod out the footsteps of that calf. 


129 


130 


The Path the Calf Made. 


Tlie years passed on in swiftness fleet; 

That road became a village street; 

And this, before they were aware, 

A city’s crowded thoroughfare; 

And soon the central street was this 
Of a renowned metropolis. 

And men, two centuries and a half, 

Trod in the footsteps of that calf. 

Each day a hundred thousand rout 
Followed the zigzag calf about; 

And o’er his crooked journey went 
The traffic of a continent 
A hundred thousand men were led 
By one calf near three centuries dead. 

They followed still his crooked way, 

And lost one hundred years a day; 

For such great reverence is lent 
To well established precedent. 

A moral lesson this might teach, 

Were I ordained and called to preach; 

For men are prone to go it blind 
Along the calf paths of the mind, 

And work along, from sun to sun, 

To do what other men have done. 

They follow in the beaten track; 

And in and out and forth and back, 

And still their devious course pursue, 

To keep the path that others do. 

But how the wise old wood gods laugh, 

Who saw the first primeval calf! 

Ah! many things this tale might teach, 

But I am not ordained to preach. 

-—Sam Walter Foss . 


« ti tl 

“Coney Island Breezes.” 

ti t t 


PEAKING 
with a dash 


of the fellow who does things 
and a spirit/’ said a traveler the 


other day, “I have always observed that he 
lands, and lands heavy every time.” 

“I was out on an excursion a short time ago. It 
was a hot day, and people were packed uncomfortably. 
A fellow came through the cars selling fans. He 
walked down the aisle several times, saying in a timid 
sort of a way, “Fans, fans, fans,” but he never sold a 
single fan. It struck me that the people he was work¬ 
ing were about the most likely fan buyers it would be 
possible to conceive of, and I couldn’t account for his 
lack of success until another fellow came in with the 
same kind of fan. He had no more than crossed the 
door of the car until he began shouting: “Here are 
your Ooney Island breezes. Only five cents. Buy a 
fan and cool off!” He made lots of noise about it, 
and he got the attention of everybody on the car. The 
result was that he sold a “Ooney Island breeze” to 
almost every man and woman on the car. There is 
only one way to account for the difference in the suc¬ 
cess of these two men. One had dash and spirit, 
and the other hadn’t. One had genius enough to call 
his wares “Coney Island breezes,” and the other called 
them simply “fans.” There is a lesson in this for the 
fellow who drags his feet .”—Columbus (0.) Dis- 



132 The Wail of the Commercial Traveler’s Daughter. 


THE WAIL OF THE COMMERCIAL TRAV¬ 
ELER’S DAUGHTER, 

My papa is a traveling man, 

Some people call him “drummer,” 

He goes away in August and 
Gets home again next summer. 

I don’t know papa very well, 

I wish I knew him better, 

But every week I take my pen 
And write a big, long letter. 

And mama says some day he’ll come 
(I thought I should have fainted), 

And she will keep him in the house 
Until we get acquainted. 

Eow ain’t that funny, don’t you think ? 

It gives me lots of bother, 

To think a great, big girl like me 
Don’t really know her father. 

I don’t know hardly how to act, 

Of course, he’ll have to “Miss” me, 

But goodness gracious, it won’t do 
To let a strange man kiss me. 

And when he first comes in the house, 

I don’t know how to greet him ; 

1 guess I’ll call him “Mr. Papa,” 

And say I’m pleased to meet him. 

Oh, pshaw! it’s plaguey mean to have 
One’s papa for a drummer; 

I wish he’d come in autumn and 
Stay winter, spring and summer. 

—Pittsburg Traveling Man. 


tl ti t 

Pointers for Salesmen. 

^ n ^ 


'JJ3 US'IJSTESS cards are good in a great many 
ways, but there are times when it is better 
not to use them. Don’t use them when ap¬ 
proaching* a man of business, unless the firm name is 
a hard one to understand when spoken. The card 
gives your man a chance, while reading it, to form 
an excuse for not seeing you, or for refusing to con¬ 
sider your proposition. Get your interview on your 
own personality; get down to business quickly and in 
earnest. Then, if when leaving, there is any reason 
for giving a card, do so. To introduce yourself with 
a card indicates a weakness or lack of confidence in 
yourself. 

Your entrance into a man’s private office is one of 
the strongest indications of your character. Some 
men enter slowly, hat in hand, cringingly and 
apologetically; others with much bravado, with the 
idea of being smart or of bulldozing the occupant. 
Neither is good, nor will either favorably impress a 
business man; on the contrary, it will antagonize 
him at once. When entering a private office, it is 
only courtesy to remove your hat. Be polite, but not 
cowering. Mlake your personality and strength of 
character forcible. Be brief, but tell your whole 
story. 

Don’t try to do any business, if you can help it, 
when you are feeling grouchy with yourself. A good 
road salesman won’t start out in the morning feeling 



134 Pointers for Salesmen. 

that he hasn’t had enough sleep. If you have had a 
night of it, keep to your room until you are all 
right—it may save you from losing a good customer, 
it’s much better not to have a “night” of it. 

In talking with a customer, whether in a retail 
store or on the road, “size him up” carefully; don’t 
joke or make flippant remarks until you are sure he 
will take them in the right spirit, or, if nothing 
worse, you may get a snub for your pains. It is 
always the safer way to attend strictly to business 
and the matter in hand, following the lead of your 
customer, when he digresses .—Canadian Tobacco 
Journal . 


* * * 


135 


“If.” 

“IF.” 

If all traveling men would die in a night, 

It would leave the whole land in a terrible plight; 
i t would weaken the sound of the musical gong, 
And livery rigs would sell for a song. 

Theatre doors would be covered with rust, 

And stages and omnibuses crumble to dust, 
Passenger trains would rust on the rail, 

And all hotel business be dead as a nail. 

The beggar would get no more dimes in his hat, 

And for the saloons, I scarce know as to that. 

The practice of flirting would suddenly flop, 

And all other legitimate business would stop. 

Imagine their grips, of all sizes and styles, 

If they should be dumped in promiscuous piles; 
What a wonderful mixture the eye would behold, 
From the coarsest of fabrics to finest of. gold. 

Dry goods and groceries and fancy goods rare, 

Pig iron thrown in with crockery ware; 

Leather case flasks of the fanciest style, 

Would often be seen in this curious pile. 

Thus fancy runs on, and much more could be said, 
But we’ve positive proof that the drummer’s not 
dead. 

While spending an hour in a gentleman’s store, 

We are oft introduced to a dozen or more. 

They are living and moving, I am happy to sav, 

And jolly good fellows they pre, by the way; 


136 As We Go Along. 

Have a smile for the boys when they call at your 
store, 

And give them a greeting, if you do nothing more. 

^ Ife ^ 

AS WE GO ALONG. 

With many a song and many a jest, 

Our merry traveler wends his way; 

To the north or south, the east or west, 

He goeth forth to sing his lay. 

The praises of his wares he’ll sound; 

The large discounts or prices small, 

Until before he’s through, ’tis found 
He’s sold a carload of them all. 

The dealer gets the goods he’s bought, 

And mightily pleased with them is he: 

For they are the ones he long has sought, 

And he calls the farmer in to see. 

The bright, new goods of late design 
The old, delighted farmer scans, 

And straightway orders of each kind, 

To cultivate and plow his lands. 

Oh! our traveling man has a jolly time, 

With nothing at all to do (?) 

But to quote discounts and show his line, 

And tell stories which are true. 

The secret of his great success 
And of his easy time, 

Ts that he sells the only “Best,” 

The Flying Dutchman line. 


Alphabet of Success. 137 

ALPHABET OF SUCCESS. 


A-ttend carefully to tlie details of your business. 

Ere prompt in all things. 

O-onsider well, then decide positively. 
l>are to do right; fear to do wrong. 

E-ndure trials patiently. 

F-ight life’s battle bravely, manfully. 

G-o not into the society of the vicious. 

H-old integrity sacred. 

i-njure not another’s reputation or business. 

J-oin hands only with the virtuous. 

K-eep your mind from evil thoughts. 

Erie not for any consideration. 

M-ake few special acquaintances. 

X-ever try to appear what you are not 
Observe good manners. 

F-ay your debts promptly. 

(Question not the veracity of a friend. 

R-espect the counsel of your parents. 

Sacrifice money rather than principle. 

T-ouch not, taste not, handle not intoxicating drinks. 
U-se your leisure time for improvement. 

V-enture not upon the threshold of wrong. 

W-atch carefully over your passions. 

X-tend to everyone a kindly saluation. 

Y-ield not to discouragement. 

Z-ealously labor for the right. 

&-Success is certain. 



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